Merlin The Witch
by HidesBehindClosedDoors
Summary: Ever wondered what would happen if Merlin was a girl? I have and so I wrote this so it shows my version of a female Merlin and the relationship between HER and Arthur.
1. First Impressions

I did not know why I was doing this. Why I was not only leaving Ealdor but why I was doing so dressed as a servant boy. I may be nothing but an outline villager and so I was best suited to torn and well worn clothes, but for some reason I felt compelled to wear a males. Instead of a serving girls dress I had chosen to clothe myself in a pair of drawstring pants, a tunic, bandages around my chest so as to flatten the area, a belt without sword and a black robe that covered the hat which kept my long black hair –which had been fixed up with many slides so as not to slip out – from being seen. As I walked the long trek to Camelot, a place where there slaughtered my kind, I remembered the words of my mothers before she sent me off to 'find my destiny' as she called it, my reason for having the powers I was born with. She had referred to me in third person as if I would somehow not realise it was me in particular she was speaking of, but the look she had given me said otherwise. Like she knew, knew that my path was set somewhere else, somewhere people didn't know what I could do, or even suspect it as many in Ealdor did.

"_No young woman, no matter how great, can know her destiny. She cannot glimpse her path in the great story that the future unfolds. Like everyone, she must live and learn. And so it will be for you, the young witch, when you arrive at the gates of Camelot. A girl that will one day become a legend. Her name is Merlin." _She had spoken in riddles, like many times she got her 'feelings' and then had not the knowledge nor the want to explain further and so after a tearful goodbye to her and the one friend I had made from my seventeen years in my home town, Will, I left and started the long trek that would take me to my mothers old friend Gaius in Camelot, where he would help me to conceal and control the magick within me. I suppose any mother would hope her child would become something great and important but a legend is something I would never become because I had neither the courage, wisdom, greatness or anything else that would make people notice me. I passed a few soldiers on horseback patrolling Uther Pendragon's kingdom, they barely noticed me, just dismissed me like they would any traveller not noticing that I was a woman, nor a witch, nor anything else that posed a threat.

It was only three days later I arrived at the gates of Camelot. Upon entering I was immediately fascinated with the hustle of busy streets especially through the market which held many wondrous things but the excitement soon drained as I reached the castle square where stood a large crowd around a platform and on a balcony a little behind stood the King. Uther Pendragon. It was almost silent except a quiet murmuring between people as two guards escorted a man wearing similar clothes to my own, except the robe and hat, to the wooden platform where stood a block and an executioner. The king spoke as the man stood finished climbing the few steps.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is judged guilty for conspiring to use enchantments and magick, and pursuant to the laws of Camelot I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned. On penalty of death. I pride myself as a fair and just King but for the crime of sorcery there is but one sentence I can pass." He nodded to the guards who placed the mans head atop the block and as his own hand raised and fell, as did the executioners axe. All gasped and looked away, but not me, I couldn't look away, I was rooted to the spot and was unfortunate enough to see the mans dispatched head roll to the platform floor. All I managed to do was wince, even now I stood staring at the now deceased warlock. One of my own people. The King spoke again as if this was normal and fair but it wasn't and that much I and many others knew.

"When I came to this land it was mired in chaos but with the peoples help magick was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate 20 years since The Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin!" I began to turn away so as to find Gaius and try to put the mans death out of my mind when an old woman's wailing reached my ears, effective of turning me to look upon her haggard form and grief stricken face. She turned to the Kings balcony and spoke what he would name treason but what I named, the truth, to an extent of course.

"There is only one evil in this land and it is not magick. It is you. With your hatred and your ignorance. You took my son. I promise you, before these celebrations are over you will share my tears. An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! A son for a son!" The last bit was maybe a little extreme and as unfair as the king was I did not believe him to be evil. Ignorant and hateful yes, but not evil. Neither was magick, not exactly, I don't think. Uther pointed at the distraught woman and ordered his guards to 'cease her' however before they had chance to reach her, she spoke words I had never heard nor understood and was gone in a puff of smoke. That trick was something I _really_ wanted to learn. The king stormed from his balcony back into the castle and the people started to move on. I did too, trying to dispel the images I had just seen.

I entered the castles doors and asked a serious looking guard for directions.

"Do you know where I can find Gaius, the court physician." The guard just sort of pointed towards a door which lead to some steps leading upwards and there was a wooden sign on the wall saying 'court physician'. At the top of the two flights was a door which had been left ajar and so after receiving no reply I poked my head around the door to see a room where every table was covered with something; some with herbs, others with small glass jars filled with different coloured liquids, even some with strange ornaments atop. However the one thing I didn't see was Gaius or anybody else for that matter.

"Hello?" Again there was no response. I found myself walking in and looking up at a balcony where stood an old man looking through a bookshelf.

"Gaius?" He still didn't hear me and I made a sound as if clearing my throat. When he looked down he lost his balance and fell against the railing. It didn't hold and I watched as both Gaius and the shattered wood plummeted to the floor from the ten foot drop. Before I could even think about it time had slowed down and I was looking for something, anything, I could put beneath Gaius to break his fall, my eyes landed upon a bed and with only a slight movement from the head it went zooming across the floor, obediently waiting for its purpose. Gaius landed atop it as time went back to normal and a few bits of wood landed with him, luckily there were no large sections that could hurt him. He started stammering nonsense as he sat up to look at me.

"What did you just do?" I had no idea what to say, I could be killed for doing that. "Tell me." I just continued to look around before coming up with the lamest excuse ever.

"I have no idea what happened." He looked at me like I was an idiot, which that excuse seemed to make me seem.

"If anyone had seen that –" I knew what would happen and I hurriedly tried to say it wasn't me. Not that he believed it.

"No! No, no, that was nothing to do with me. That, that, that was –" He cut me off like I had him.

"I know what it was. I just want to know where you learnt to do it." He kept questioning me and I continued to reply with quick, defensive answers.

"Nowhere."

"So how is it you know magick?"

"I don't!"

"Where did you study? Answer me!"

"I've never studied magick or been taught."

"Are you lying to me, boy?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth."

"I was born like this!"

"That's impossible! Who are you?"

"Oh… I'm… erm… I have this letter." I passed a letter my mother had written to him and he looked at the envelope before raising an eyebrow and looking back at me.

"I don't have my glasses."

"I'm Merlin." Recognition seemed to flash across his face quickly.

"Hunith's son!" Then he looked confused. "No, she had a daughter." I quickly pulled my hood down and removed my hat. He was still confused but seemed to understand that I was, in fact, a woman.

"You're not supposed to be here until Wednesday." I just looked at him, confused myself now.

"It is Wednesday." He shook his head at himself. I suppose spending so much time surrounded by chemicals, plants, books and the like would cause anyone to lose track of dates.

"Ah. Well, go ahead and put your bag in there." He pointed to another door which again led to a flight of stairs. All the stairs in this place was going to kill me soon enough. Before I started to climb them I turned back to Gaius, afraid again.

"You wont say anything about…" I let my sentence trail off, he knew what I meant, I could see it in his face.

"Although, Merlin, I should say thankyou." He smiled and I gave him a weak one in return before going up to my room. It was the size of my entire house, although now here I realised that my home was nothing but a spec of dust compared to the castle I now had a home in. The room was simple, just how I liked it, a single bed with a side table, a trunk at the end of it to store my clothes and a cupboard to store anything else I wanted to. The window which I immediately opened held such a beautiful view that it made me slightly wonder why I was so adamant about not coming here, that is, until I remembered the scene in the square earlier. I silently closed the window and sat on the bed remembering the words my mother had written in the letter to Gaius.

_My dear Gaius,_

_I turn to you for I feel lost and alone and don't know who to trust. It is every mothers fate to think her child is special and yet I would give my life that Merlin was not so. Ours is a small village and she is so clearly at odds with people here that if she were to remain I fear what would become of her. She needs a hand to hold, a voice to guide, someone that might help her find a purpose for her gift. I beg you, if you understand a mothers love for her daughter, keep her safe._

_And may God save you both. _

_Hunich_

I was not meant to read the letter but boredom had gotten the best of me on my long walk. I didn't regret reading the letter, there was nothing in it which I did not already know but I did feel sad that my mother did not believe she were capable of the things she believed Gaius is. With a mixture of my mothers letter and the scene from earlier playing in my head I fell asleep. Welcomed with nightmares that I did not welcome in return.


	2. Arthur The Ass

Throughout my nightmares a voice kept calling out. Whatever or whoever it was kept on saying my name and it caused me to awaken with a start the following morning. I was confused as to where I was in the beginning but after lying still for a moment the previous days events returned to my mind and I fought hard to forget about the execution and the witch's warning to Uther. I dressed in the same style clothes, once again feeling as though it would be easier to pretend I was a servant boy instead of an abandoned girl, it was hard enough to be a witch, I couldn't stand to be subjected to the prejudice held against women. We were just as strong and fast if we wished to be, the Lady Morgana was proof enough, her skills with a sword were amazing and I never for one moment though it strange from a woman, maybe strange for the Kings Ward however I had seen many women who could fight and take care of themselves, personally I did not have much talent with weapons but I rarely needed any but my gift for if I were in trouble. Now though I must guard the secret more than ever before.

Once downstairs I noticed Gaius was preparing some food, it looked like porridge but smelled so much better than the stuff we had back home and I was sure it would taste so too. As Gaius noticed my appearance he looked toward me for a moment then away as he spoke.

"I got you water. You didn't wash last night." He seemed surprised at the fact, I suppose after living where I did washing was not much of an issue but compared to everyone else in the kings castle I guess it may be different.

"Sorry." I didn't really knot what I was supposed to say and he just nodded understandingly.

"Help yourself to breakfast." I sat at a table, clear except dining equipment, eve though the food smelt delicious I found myself with no appetite and really just sat playing with it. I wasn't exactly sure what happened but I swear Gaius did it on purpose to see my reaction, the bucket of water was knocked and as it flew to the floor I stood and froze it in midair. Gaius let out a gasp and looked at me, I dropped the hold my mind had on it immediately and it fell to the floor, water going everywhere. He seemed very curious which was both interesting ad slightly worrying.

"How did you do that? Did you say a spell in your mind?" I was immediately back on the defensive. My mother may trust Gaius but as of yet I wasn't sure.

"I don't know why spells." It was the truth and yet I felt like it was a lie somehow.

"The what did you do? There must be something?" His wise blue eyes stared into mine and I looked away, shaking my head and sighing.

"It just happens." As he stood looking gobsmacked I hurried to grab the mop and started wiping away at the water on the floor for a reason not to look at him.

"Well we best keep you out of trouble. You can help me until I find some paid work for you to do. Here." I looked up to fins him handing me two vials of something or other. "Holly Hock & Fever Few for Lady Persevore and this is for Sir Ealwin, he's as blind as a weevil so warn him not to take it all at once." I nodded and smiled slightly.

"Okay." He took the mop out of my hands and I placed the purple vial into my pocket and the yellow into my other, hoping that I would remember which was which and Gaius also handed me a sandwich, obviously noticing I had yet to touch my food, I smiled a genuine smile at him as I took it..

"Off you go." As I reached the door he called me back. "And Merlin? I need hardly tell you that the practice of _any_ form of enchantments will get you killed." I nodded seriously before leaving and eating my sandwich along the way, finally starting to feel capable of eating.

I reached sir Elawin's room first and knocked on the door, he opened it rather quickly and was looking somewhere over my shoulder. At first I looked too not understanding what he was looking at before remembering that he was blind.

"Erm… I brought you, your medicine." I put my hand out to give it him and he put his out too and I carefully enclosed his hand around the small vial. I turned to leave before remembering about warning him.

"Oh Gaius said not to drink it all…" It was too late, he was already guzzling it down like an alcoholic drinking his first pint of the day. He finished swallowing and looked in my general direction again.

"I'm sure it's fine." After those parting words I left.

I had reached the square again, I was worried that yesterdays events might replay however when I got there I found myself transfixed with something else, at first it was his voice that made me glance his way and then I couldn't take my eyes off him.

"Where's the target?" He was handsome, more so than I'd seen in any other man. Blonde hair cut fairly short but a little unruly, sticking out in places and a fine body, even if it was covered up with armour. A knight I supposed. His eyes were blue, a far brighter shade than I'd ever seen and it made my stomach turn anxiously when he looked my way, of course his eyes never stayed on me for more than a fraction of a second, to him I was just another peasant boy, he didn't know the truth. The man to who he was speaking was probably a servant as he simply nodded in the direction of a circular piece of wood with a target painted on it.

"It's into the sun." He was right I supposed, it would make it more difficult to see with the suns rays shining in your eyes, even if it was dimmer than usual, the servant just looked at him, a little wary.

"It's not that bright." The Knight smiled and I was captivated, until he spoke that is.

"A bit like you then." His fellow knights laughed and I couldn't help but think how rude he was, handsome or not, a rude man was not a good one. The servant wasn't too sure how to react at first and so didn't comment on the insult, instead he placed the tray he'd been carrying on a barrel.

"Shall I move it down the other end, sir?" The Knight nodded but as the servant lifted it and started to move it I heard the Knight speaking to his friends.

"This will teach him." The others laughed again and I wondered why they all let him lead them so blindly, they were sheep, following without thinking. The handsome Knight took one of many daggers from his sheath and threw it at the moving target. The servant immediately let it fall from where it was covering his face, completely shocked.

"Hey! Hang on!" He didn't sound angry but he did seem scared, the knights laughed and the leader smirked.

"Don't stop." The servant moved a little further and asked;

"Here?" The main Knight's voice was no longer mocking and had turned deadly.

"I told you to keep moving." He threw another dagger and the servant put the target in front of his head just in time. What a complete arsehole the handsome knight turned out to be.

"Come on! Run!" The man picked it back up and ran back and forth.

"We want some moving target practice!" He carried on throwing daggers at the board but in the end the servant had to stop, the board looked heavy and after around the fifth dagger he dropped it and it rolled across the floor, landing right by my feet. As the servant went to pick it up I put my foot on it, he looked up at me, fearful of what he might find, but my eyes were not on him. They were instead on the Knight who was now laughing with his followers.

"Hey! Come on that's enough." My voice was low and calm, when I got irritated it went like that, which is why it was so easy to pretend I was a boy. The Knight looked at me in total disbelief, I guessed he wasn't used to people telling him what to do.

"What?" He looked at me like dirt and I continued with the calm voice but smiled a little at him, I couldn't help myself, I really loved the confusion on his handsome face.

"You've had your fun, my friend." He slowly walked towards me, with a smirk.

"Do I know you?" Yeah right. I put my hand out to shake his as he reached me.

"I'm Merlin." But instead of offering his own he just continued to look down at me.

"So I don't know you." Felling foolish I put my hand down to my side again.

"No." His question, if you could call it that, didn't require an answer but I gave him one anyway.

"And yet you called me friend?" He didn't like it that much was obvious, I started to think that maybe I should have kept out of it, but I never was one to let people get bullied in front of me.

"That was my mistake." He never noticed the sarcasm dripping from my voice, arrogant fool.

"Yes, I think so." I struggled to hide my amusement at his stupidity.

"Yeah." My voice was again sarcastic and again he didn't notice it so I decided to make it worth my trouble and take down his ego a little. "I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass." He laughed at my attempt to belittle him as I walked off.

"Or I one who could be so stupid." A smirk graced my lips as I turned back to him. I may be foolish at times but I was not stupid, at least I could understand sarcasm. "Tell me Merlin do you know how to walk on your knees?" He was right up in my face and yet he was too stupid to even notice how feminine my features were. He was expected an answer, so I gave him one, hoping for the chance to make him look even more idiotic.

"No." I had learnt to bide my time and that is what I was doing, magick would be easy to use unnoticed, after all I'm sure he wouldn't know what he was looking for.

"Would you like me to teach you?" My smirk stayed in place but so did his.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." He started chuckling.

"Why? What are you going to do to me?" He was an inch from laughter and yet so was mine, because he really had no idea who he was messing with.

"You have no idea." I felt my eyes flash a little, but not gold like when I used magick, just flash a brighter green in warning. He didn't notice, I didn't think he would.

"Be my guest! Come on!" A crowd had started to gather and it was the last thing I wanted, he may not know magick when he saw it but others might. "Come on. Come on!" He was taunting me and I knew that I would not win fighting physically but I lost my temper and swung for him. He immediately had my hands behind my back which was now to his chest, how he didn't notice that my wrists were too slender to be a girls I don't know, he really was a fool. He whispered in my ear and I struggled not to shiver, thankfully the anger won out.

"I could have you put in jail for that." I struggled not to laugh. Knight or not, he did not have that much power.

"What? Who do you think you are? The King?" I felt his chest vibrate against my back with a chuckle as I struggled to get free.

"No. I'm his son. Arthur." Shit! Only I could get into it with the bloody Prince on my second day in Camelot. Before I knew it my ass was being thrown in a cell by two guards. If he really thought that a little room with nothing but straw would make me break, he had no idea. He was right though, I was stupid. I knew better than to get into fights with strangers, it never turned out well. I fell asleep on the straw that night, never feeling more at home since I left, I was used to sleeping on the floor and it was strangely comforting even if there were bars separating me from the outside world.


	3. Gwen The Kind

The voice from the night before was in my dream again, and it continued to call my name, however this time when I awoke it didn't stop. I found myself up on my feet and on the other side of the room before I could even wake up properly. It stopped but there was still an odd buzzing in my head and I put it to the floor where I'd been sleeping, wondering if that was where the sound was coming from.

"Merlin!" It was another voice this time. Gaius'. And it wasn't in my head. He wasn't happy, as soon as they let him into my cell he was lecturing.

"You never cease to amaze me! The one thing that someone like you should do is keep your head down! And what do you do? You behave like an idiot!"

"I'm sorry." I wasn't but I knew it was what he wanted to hear.

"You're lucky. I managed to pull a few strings to get you released." A huge grin spread across my face.

"Oh Thankyou, Thankyou!" His expression was not the same. I'd never saw him look so serious, actually I barely knew him so it may not be so surprising, still I couldn't stop smiling. "I won't forget this!"

"Well…there is a small price to pay."

I was stood with my head and hands in a wooden vice and people were throwing fruit at me. It was messy but my hat covered most of my head for which I was very thankful. When Gaius showed up he had a huge grin on his face. Loving every minute of this. He laughed as he walked past and I shouted out a 'Thanks' before spitting out a bit of tomato which had reached my mouth. Yuk! When I looked up next there was a girl in a red, well worn robe stood a little to the side of me.

"I'm Gweneveire but most people call me Gwen?" She spoke it like a question. She was obviously not a noble, she was not as well groomed and less full of herself. "I'm the Lady Morgana's maid." Knew she wasn't noble.

"I'm Merlin." I struggled to put my hand it and she shook it gingerly, careful not to hurt my wrist. "Although most people just call me idiot." She laughed a little and I smiled at her. I may make friends here after all.

"No you're not. I saw what you did. I thought it was brave." I smiled at her kindness, it's not everyone who would risk being pelted by fruit to talk to you, although I did notice that no one threw things whilst she was stood there.

"It was stupid." She smiled and nodded a little.

"Well, I'm glad you walked away, you weren't going to beat him." Nice to know she had so little faith, although it was completely true. Unarmed, untrained, woman against the Prince of Camelot? No chance. Still I couldn't help but joke and pretend I stood a chance.

"Oh. I can beat him." I laughed a little because if I were to use magick it would be true.

"You think? Because you don't look like one of those big muscled kind of fellows." I wasn't too sure what to say to that so I just replied with a;

"Thankyou?" It wasn't supposed to come out as a question but it was rather funny to see her back-tred on what she'd said.

"No! No. I'm sure you're stronger than you look. It's just Erm… Arthur's one of those real rough, tough, save the world kind of men and well…" She trailed off and I was generally curious to see what she said next.

"What?"

"You don't look like that." I nodded for her to come closer and she did.

"I'm in disguise." She laughed, thinking I was joking. Well, I was. I wasn't disguised as a weakling, I was disguised as a boy.

"Well it's great you stood up to him." A large smile broke out on my face, no one had said that. Most called me an idiot.

"You really think so?" She nodded and smiled.

"Well he's a bully and everyone though you were a real hero."

"Really?" She smiled nodding and then I noticed that more people had shown up with buckets of food to throw.

"Well it's not everyday the Prince gets challenged by a girl." I saw the shock on her face and then she took a double take at me and noticed how obvious it was. Before she could say anything I nodded towards the waiting crowd. "Gweneveire, my fans are waiting." She laughed and ran off just before the first tomato hit the stocks.

I hadn't long gotten back home when Gaius had food ready, as I sat down to the table he pointed to a bowl in the centre.

"Do you want some vegetable with that?" I laughed because although embarrassing it was a little funny.

"I know you're still angry with me." I looked back down at my bowl but saw him smiling a little.

"Your mother told me to look after you." I nodded in understanding.

"Yes."

"What did your mother say to you about your gift?" It was a sudden topic change and I answered as honestly as I could.

"That I was special." The sort of thing any mother would say to there freak of a daughter but Gaius seemed to agree which was strange in many ways.

"You are special. The likes of which I have never seen before." It confused me. I though that there would be quite a few witches and warlocks born with the gift instead of learning it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… Magick requires incantations. Spells, it takes years to study. What I saw you do was elemental, instinctive." I nodded having figured that out on my own as a child.

"What's the point if it can't be used." At first he was unsure how to answer and then he just said all he could.

"That I do not know. You are a question that has never been posed before, Merlin." I had been wondering why my mother had sent me here of all places and it made me think, was Gaius a warlock.

"Did you ever study magick?" I didn't really believe he would answer.

"Uther banned all such work twenty years ago." I already knew that but it brought other questions to mind.

"Why?" No one had ever told me and if anyone would know, Gaius would.

"People used magick for the wrong end at that time. It threw the natural order into chaos. Uther made it his mission to destroy everything from back then. Even the dragons." That made me look up so quickly I almost got whiplash. I knew they were said to be extinct now but I had no idea that Uther was responsible.

"All of them?" I found it hard to believe that he could take down _one_ dragon, never mind a whole species.

"There was one dragon that he chose not to kill, he kept it as an example. He imprisoned it in a cave deep beneath the castle. Where no one can free it. Now, eat up, when you've finished I need you to take a preparation to Lady Helen, she needs it for her voice." Lady Helen was the famous singer that Uther had got to come for the 'celebration' apparently she sounded like an angel, I had never really heard anyone sing apart from myself and my mother when I was a child. Neither of us were exactly famous for it.

I found Lady Helen's room on one of the top floors, it was beautiful, and huge, at least five times the size of mine and she had many bouquets's of flowers in vases around the place. I suppose any woman of such talent would have many admirers. I placed the yellow concoction on her desk and went to leave but a strange man shaped straw sculpture caught my eye. It was on the desk also and well it didn't seem normal to have such a thing lying around. Once I saw that I looked under a cloth on the same desk, it was covering a book, tied shut with string. I knew it was wrong to peep, it could have been her diary and yet something told me it wasn't. That it was something bad. Very bad. I never had chance to open it though because at that moment I heard the clatter of heeled footsteps and covered it back up before turning to see the Lady Helen herself. She did not look happy, she looked like she had something to hide, there was something in her eyes that warned me not to mess with her.

"What are you doing in here?" Her voice was like ice and I struggled to believe that such a voice could make the beauty I had heard people speak of.

"Oh… Erm… I was asked to deliver this." I picked up the vial from where I'd placed it on the desk and turned back to her and handed it over before smiling and hurrying away. I wanted to be as far from her as possible. I was never usually scared but there was something strange about her.


	4. Arthur The Prat & Revelations

After delivering the vial to Lady Helen I decided to go for a walk through the market and have a closer look at what they offered, and if they had any jobs going. But as I started down the path I noticed Arthur and his Knights, this time I kept my head down and walked past but he had to open his big, obnoxious mouth.

"How's your knee walking coming along?" At first I ignored him, continuing my search and then he had to carry on.

"Oh don't run away." I stopped but didn't turn to face him, instead I simply shouted back.

"From you?" It was all I could do to keep my back to him, every instinct I had was screaming not to let him out of my sight but I ignored it knowing if I looked at him I wouldn't be able to control myself. I acted rashly with him and I was under no pretense that I wouldn't do the same again.

"Oh, Thank God. I though you were deaf as well as dumb." That's it, I turned around slowly to face him.

"I told you, you were an ass. I just didn't realise you were a royal one." I saw him turning to look at his knights and I couldn't help egging him on. "Ohh what are you going to do? Get your daddy's men to protect you?" He laughed but I could see the irritation in his eyes, he really didn't like being made out to be a coward.

"I could take you apart with one blow." I smirked, speaking truth that he of course would not believe.

"I could take you apart with less than that." He smiled, happy for a challenge, this time, he would be the one to look a fool, not me.

"You sure?" I took my jacket off and threw it to the side showing him that I was ready, he just laughed. Not for long I couldn't help thinking. A knight handed Arthur a mace and he threw it to me, I never said I was good with weapons and struggled to catch the thing making his knights laugh harder. He had been passed another one for himself in my struggle and started swinging it.

"Come on then." He was spinning it above his head and I couldn't help feeling a little fear but I stood my ground as he stalked towards me like he was a lion and I was nothing more than a lamb. "I warn you I've been trained to kill since birth." He was looking at me like he really wanted me to back down, but unfortunately that was something I never did.

"Oh? And how long have you been training to be a prat?" He laughed but it was an exasperated one.

"You can't address me like that." I really enjoyed playing with him so I carried on.

"Sorry." I looked down but kept an eye on his feet for any sudden movement. "How long have you been training to be a prat –" Now I looked up, straight into his eyes, bowing slightly. "-My lord." He turned slightly laughing but though I wasn't a fighter I was also not stupid, he used the slight turn to get more swing behind his mace and it flew straight over my head as I ducked. I was backing away, dodging his mace, I had a plan to get somewhere more enclosed where I could use the objects to my advantage, his mace kept swinging and mine hung in my hand, limp. He stood atop a wagon and as I backed away my mace got stuck in an empty bird cage, the moment it took for me to release it gave him the opportunity to swing for me again and I just got my mace out and moved in time, a wooden shelf from the stall I was backing into fell where it was hit. He swung again and I dived backwards over a vegetable stall, almost hitting my head off the stone floor, he jumped over it gracefully and I ran into the stables, he followed. A crowd was watching from the doorway and I fell into a pile of grain sacks as Arthur advanced on me.

"You're in trouble now." As his mace spun I used my mind to move a hook hanging from the wall in the way and his mace wrapped round it, getting stuck. The crowd started to laugh and I quickly got up and moved. He moved in on me again and I made a wooden box slide in front of his feet, he was too busy looking at me and swinging his mace to notice. That is until he kicked it letting out a painful howl, the crowd laughed harder and I found myself smiling, now that I had the upper hand a little. My own mace was lost but I had something so much better than that. Magick. I ducked beneath a desk as his mace smashed down again and spotted a rope, I hurriedly moved it so it was a few inches above ground level and tight. Arthur tripped right over it and landed with his head on a sack. I grabbed his mace and started swinging it, albeit more awkward than he had but he was backing away and I started feeling braver.

"Do you give up!" I was advancing and he was defenceless but still arrogant.

"Do you?" I glared back at him as he continued to back away.

"Do you! Do you want to give up!" Before he could say anything his foot got stuck in a bucket that I hadn't moved and he flew backwards into more grain sacks. The crowd were in pieces and I spared them a glance, catching Gaius amongst them, only he was frowning instead of laughing, my gaze was stuck on him a moment too long and in that time Arthur had grabbed something, I think a broom and first in the back of the legs, causing me to turn around, then in the stomach making me bend over a little winded and then straight atop the head causing me to land on my ass, well there went my moment of glory. His guards grabbed me and yanked me up, ready to throw my ass back in jail.

"Wait. Let him go. He may be an idiot but he's a brave one. There's something about you Merlin, I can't quite put my finger on it." As he started to walk away I shouted after him.

"Yeah there is. I'm a woman!" He spun around and I whipped my hat off, letting my hair down at the same time. His eyes widened ridiculously big and I noticed how he looked me up and down completely taking me in. As much as I hated myself for admitting it, I like the way he looked at me, like I was actually worthy of something, like I was worthy of him but then the look faded and he turned his back and walked away with his knights in toe, still quietly chuckling. I noticed how silent the crowd had gone, realising that not only had someone stood up against the Prince, fought him and made him look a fall but that the person who'd done it was in fact, a woman.

Gaius was not happy, the whole walk back to our place in the palace he was silent but as soon as he closed the door behind him he was shouting at me.

"How could you be so foolish!" I was still angered that I had let Arthur take me down after I'd already made him look like the prat he was that I snapped back at Gaius.

"He needed to be taught a lesson!" I was close to tears I was so angry.

"Magick must be studied, mastered and used for good! Not for idiotic pranks!" It made me even more angry when he said that, using magick was easy to me, it was as natural as breathing. Just because it wasn't as simple for him, he took it out on me!

"What is there to master! I could move objects like that before I could talk!" It was true, according to my mother it was only days after I was born when things would move around me.

"Then by now you should know how to control yourself." A part of me realised that he was right but I wanted to use my gifts.

"I don't want to! If I can't use my magick what have I got?" Nothing. "I'm just a nobody and I always will be. If I can't use magick, I might as well die." I was no longer shouting, my voice was calm because what I'd said was nothing but a sad truth I learnt a long time ago. With that I left and went to my room, slamming the door behind me. All I wanted was to be left alone but Gaius was entering my room within ten minutes of me storming out, carrying something under his arm. I was sprawled across my bed, tears unwillingly leaking from my eyes.

"Merlin. Sit up. Take you shirt off." I did nothing but look at him strangely. Take my shirt off? Was he serious? Then I realised that he wanted to check on the wounds I had gotten fighting Arthur so I did as he asked, the bandages covered any indecent parts anyway. As I fought to lift my shirt over my head I realised how sore I was. I cared little about my physically pain though.

"You don't know why I was born this way. Do you?" It wasn't so much a question, because a part of me knew the answer was no already. Gaius put something on the cuts on the higher back where the bandages hadn't reached, they had saved the rest of me at least.

"No." I had expected that but it still made me feel lost.

"I'm not a monster am I?" I chuckled, only half joking and I think he knew that. He grabbed my face gently and turned it towards him, I looked into his wise eyes and listened to his words.

"Don't ever think that." How could I not? Everyone maid out magick was bad and so was anyone using it.

"Then why am I like this? Please. I need to know why." I knew that he didn't have the answers but there was no one else I could ask. Gaius sighed and took his hand which held the cloth he'd been patting my shoulder with away.

"Maybe there's someone with more knowledge than me." I looked away, disappointed.

"If you can't tell me no one can." I couldn't look at him anymore, for fear of starting to cry again, he poured something into a small glass and handed it to me, I took it.

"Drink this, it will help with the pain." I did as he said, I knew it tasted vile and yet I couldn't taste it, if that made any sense.


	5. The Great Dragon

The voice came again that night, calling my name but this time I wasn't asleep at all. I had been lying in bed, staring at the wall when it spoke. For some reason I could no longer ignore it, I placed my shoes on my feet and draped my robe atop my night dress, my hair fell freely down my back and it was the first time I felt like the woman I was in a long time. I snuck past Gaius who was asleep downstairs but stopped on my way out, the blanket was rested on his knees and I used my magick to pull it over and up to his shoulders before heading out of the door. I wasn't sure where I was going but it was like my feet knew where to go and I just walked, didn't think about where or what waited. As I headed down some steps I noticed guards at the bottom rolling a dice, I didn't know what game they played nor did I care. I had to distract them and so on the next roll I enchanted the dice to fall to the floor, everytime the guard got closer I would move them again, the other guard followed him into a dark room where the dice had gone and I snuck past to another staircase. I grabbed a torch and lit it on the way so as to not get caught in the darkness and I hoped the guards would fail to notice. It was good that I had because the downward leading staircase was pitch black and the further down I went the louder the voice got. The stairs lead to tunnels and one lead to a huge rocky space, there was no one there. As I went to turn back I heard laughter, a deep sort of sound that seemed to come from the cavern itself, whatever was laughing seemed to be finding something very amusing. I looked harder into the empty space but could see nothing but large rocky platforms and walls.

"Where are you!" My voice was stronger than I thought it would be and it carried throughout the entire place, making an echo. Suddenly there was a sound of heavy wind being pushed away. Wings. I remember similar sounds in the woods when birds would take flight, only this was a hundred times louder and more powerful. Then a large roar echoed throughout the cavern into the very centre of my bones. Now I was scared. A large beast landed gracefully atop a rocky mountain in front of me. A dragon.

"I'm here." It could talk! The Dragons voice was rather comforting instead of scary. Like the voice of an old man, the voice you would associate with wisdom. I had probably been silently staring for too long as he opened his giant mouth, filled with huge teeth and spoke again. The sound of his voice compared to his form was surprising but nice at the same time.

"How small you are for such a great destiny." His words enchanted me and I found myself needing to know more. Did he know why I had powers? If he did, would he tell me?

"Why what do you mean?" My voice was barely a whisper so I cleared my throat and spoke again. "What destiny?" This time it was louder and if he hadn't heard me before he most certainly had now.

"Your gift, Merlin, was given to you for a reason." He knew my name? How? Does that mean he knew why I had such magick?

"So there is a reason?" He nodded slowly, wisely, with eyes full of knowledge.

"Arthur is the once and future King who will unite the land of Albion." That wasn't what I expected. What did Arthur have to do with any of this.

"Right…" I let my voice trail off waiting for more information. I was not disappointed.

"He faces many threats from friends and foe, alike." Still not getting the point.

"I don't see what this has to do with me." His eyes flashed a little and it startled me enough to stop talking as his voice, louder, more powerful this time echoed around the space again.

"Everything! Without you, Arthur will never succeed. Without you, there will be no Albion." As if! No chance is my destiny THAT important. What the hell was Albion even supposed to be?

"No. No you've got this wrong." The dragon cut me off this time.

"There is no right or wrong. Only what is. And what isn't." Yeah, yeah. I couldn't stand Arthur anyway. Handsome he may be but he was still a complete and utter prat!

"I'm serious! If anyone wants to kill him they can go ahead. In fact, I'll give them a hand." Little help I would be. The dragon started to chuckle knowingly. What he knew I didn't know which is probably why I found it so irritating.

"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin." His golden eyes pierced right through me as though looking into my mind. He could see I was about to object yet again and cut me off. "And none of us can escape it." I was seriously hoping that he was wrong because in order to save Arthur I would have to be _around_ Arthur, and I would probably kill him, never mind anybody else.

"No. No way. No. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot." He seemed amused but didn't laugh, only continued to talk seriously.

"Perhaps it is your destiny to change that." I wasn't sure what to say and it wouldn't matter anyway because after those parting words the dragons great wings started to flap and he flew off, ignoring the shouts I made.

"Wait! No Stop! Wait! I need to know more!" He didn't listen, only continued to fly further away, until I could no longer see him. Accepting the fact that he would say no more I turned my back and left, going straight to bed once getting in and once again found nightmares. This time however they were not about being hung, or bunt, or executed in any other way, not even a dream about finding myself stark naked in front of the royal court, this time they were of Arthur. Arthurs death and in turn the death of Camelot's future. In my dream I had failed to do my destiny and protect him, in turn I, myself, was in great pain, mentally and emotionally.


	6. Lady Morgana & Ladylike Behaviour

I awoke to the sound of a bang as my door was opened and Gaius shouting at me.

"Oy! Have you seen the state of this room?" I lifted myself onto my elbows and took a look around, the whole place was trashed. My clothes strewn about the place and the few items I had amongst them. With a heavy sigh I heaved myself out of bed and sat on the edge of it before answering Gaius.

"It just happens." Normally when I was having nightmares I would wake to find things around me had been either smashed or just a mess, today it seemed there were no breakages.

"By magick?" Obviously.

"Yep."

"Yes. Well you can clean it up without magick." He threw a pair of pants at me and I moved them to the space next to me. "Then I want you to get me some herbs; Fenway, wormwood and sorrel." Like I knew what they were, guess I'd just have to ask at the market. Gaius handed me a drawstring pouch with a bottle inside. "And deliver this to Morgana. Poor girl suffers with nightmares." Join the club. Lady Morgana was the Kings ward and very beautiful. More so than I could ever hope to become.

"I know the feeling." My own nightmares had awoken me several times in the few short hours I had slept. Gaius threw a dress at me and I looked down in distaste. I guess that meant he wanted me to look like the woman I was. Damn it!

I had quickly put the simple brown dress on, then placed my hair into two plaits leading into a bun, clipping it with the slips I had been using to hide my hair. I left the hat and jacket, instead wearing my simple black robe which was more ladylike. I really hated dresses, they got in my way and the robe wasn't much better. After washing my face to get rid of any dust from the previous night and eating a quick bowl of porridge I left and headed to Morgana's chambers. Upon entering I found her stood looking in a mirror and fiddling with her hair, she never looked at me but knew I had entered, well she knew someone had entered, she had no idea that it was me.

"You know, I've been thinking about Arthur." She made her way behind a screen used for dressing. "The boys denser than a lance pole." I struggled not to laugh at the truth of her words. Her next ones however stopped me cold. "Pass me that dress, would you Gwen?" I quickly looked around and spotted a beautiful purple dress atop the chaise, as I picked it up she continued to speak. "He's a total jouster. Just because I'm the Kings ward that doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feat. Does it?" I passed the dress over the screen and she picked it up, waiting for an answer. "Well? Does it?" I made a dismissive sound but did not dare speak, she would no straight away that I wasn't Gwen, her voice was softer and much prettier than my own husky one. I hadn't a clue what I should do now though, I went to leave but she started to talk again. "If he wants me to go then he should just invite me. And he hasn't. Do you know what that means?" I made the same dismissive sound and again she continued, not interested in what I, or as she thought Gwen, had to say, just wanting someone to talk to. "Where are you?" I tried making my voice soft and called out a quick;

"Here." As I held another dress in front of my face so for her not to see me if she looked over the screen.

"It means I'm going by myself. I need some help with this fastening." Shit! No way could I go behind there and her not notice that I wasn't Gwen. I should have just said it wasn't her to begin with instead of foolishly going along with it. I obviously hadn't spoken in time as she called out. "Gwen?" Thankfully Gwen actually walked through the door at that point and I struggled not to sigh with relief and just looked at her with exasperated eyes, I could see her holding in a chuckle.

"I'm here." I quickly passed her the pouch Gaius had given me and made my escape miming that it was why I was here. She smiled before I left and it gave me hope that she could, indeed, become my friend.

Tonight was the great celebration of how magick was banished, a thought I hated. Unfortunately I was required to go as I was now known to be Gaius' charge, and he as court physician was invited to all celebrations and meetings. I donned my only celebration worthy emerald green dress on, which my mother had always complimented, saying it matched my eyes when they weren't gold and redid my hair as parts were starting to fell out, I even went as far as to wear a little makeup that my mother had given me, left over from before my father disappeared. She saw no use to use it again and so had handed it to me in hopes it would attract a nice man, I had rarely worn it before now. I only used the natural colours, brown and pinks, a little on my eyes to make them stand out and some in my cheeks to give them a little of the colour they lacked. As I glided down the stairs in my flat, black, most ladylike shoes I heard and saw Gaius gasp.

"You look wonderful, Merlin. The Lady Morgana would be jealous of such beauty." I had to laugh and it, too, sounded ladylike. I suppose the clothes did count for personality a little. When dressed like a lady, I acted like a lady. Most of the time.

"Thankyou Gaius, you are too kind." His smile was huge and I couldn't help wonder why he enjoyed this so much.

"You even sound like a lady. Is it too much to hope that this will continue." I laughed again before answering truthfully.

"Most definitely." He laughed with me as we left our chambers and headed over to the Great Hall. Upon entering I was astounded by its beauty, chandeliers were lit and everyone was merry, I tried not to really think of the reasons why for fear of upsetting myself. Although come to think of it, a great deal of the jolliness was most probably from the amount of ale or wine they had consumed. A lot of men actually looked at me as I entered, many didn't gaze for long however I caught sight of Arthur and his Knights, still staring in awe. Most likely at how _different_ I looked instead of how beautiful Gaius said I was, although from my spot I could just make out Arthurs words.

"God have mercy." I allowed myself a small smile as I took Gaius' arm and we went to get a drink. He helped himself to a goblet and the jug of water where I filled my own with wine, if I was supposed to celebrate the death of one of my own, I would definitely need a drink to do so. Upon seeing my goblet, Gaius turned to me and raised his eyebrows.

"Merlin! Remember, you are here to work." I nodded and drank slowly so as not to get myself drunk, I noticed Arthur making his way towards me but he was stopped by the beautiful Lady Morgana and I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, although a part of me was rather relieved as I had no intention of fighting him in a dress, really wasn't very practical. From behind me Gwen spoke and I turned to look at her.

"She looks great, doesn't she." I wondered whom she was on about before realising that my gaze had lingered too long on Arthur and Morgana.

"Yeah." I was pretty sure that a large part of me was thinking of Arthur when I said that but I put it out of my mind.

"Some people are just born to be queen." But that would mean… she and Arthur would…

"No." I shouldn't have said that and the look Gwen gave me showed as much.

"I hope so. One day. Not that I'd want to be her. Who'd want to marry Arthur?" Who indeed. Certainly not me. Although many of the woman were staring at him and it didn't escape my notice that any number of them would hope to. I used this to tease Gwen a little, it was fun and she was a good sport.

"Oh Gwen, I thought you liked those real rough, tough, save the world kind of men." I used her own words against her and she noticed, laughing.

"No I like much more ordinary men. What about you?" I laughed with her,

"I agree with you on that however I much prefer my own solitude instead of having a man breathing down my neck." That was mainly aimed at the drunken night stumbling his way to me, I saw him in my goblet approaching from behind, he heard my words and spun away. Gwen noticed to and we both laughed harder before turning back to the table and starting to serve drinks instead of drink them ourselves.


	7. Long Live Prince Arthur

The trumpets started to sound, announcing the arrival of Lady Helen. All of the guests took there seats at the tables. There were two long tables heading to the door where most guests were seated and then the shorter table at the head of them for the royals. King Uther, Prince Arthur and Lady Morgana. As the King turned to walk down the aisle to claim his seat in the middle of the royal table people bowed and he turned before sitting and made an announcement.

"We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It had bought to the kingdom, and myself, many pleasures but few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Moira." He sat and the crowd clapped as they followed his lead, sitting at there tables and awaiting the beautiful music Lady Helen was said to control. She stood atop a platform at the end of the aisle between two lamps that made her beautiful yellow dress sparkle and the gems, in her neatly entwined hair, glisten. The band started to play and she began to sing. Words I could not understand spilled from her lips, I had never heard such a thing. It was beautiful of course but I was more entranced with the words that the sound of them. I found myself stood by the royals table, a little to the side, at the bottom of a stairwell, another servant stood by me although he was a few steps up as if to get a better view. I was still entranced by her words, they weren't just song lyrics; they seemed to be more. A warning of sorts. She slowly walked down the platforms steps towards the royals table and stopped beneath the first large chandelier. Her words started to scare me, a feeling inside me said that this was something more, something strange and yet normal. As though my mind had done it with it's simple warning thoughts the people at the tables started to fall asleep, arms on the tables, heads rested atop them. I hurried to cover my ears and the sound lessened, not enough to be unheard but enough not to have any effect upon me. That was when the King and Arthur and Morgana all fell into slumber, as I looked around I noticed that _everyone_ but me and Lady Helen were still awake, the reaction her song seemed to have on the guests did not seem to surprise her and I knew, from that point, it was magick.

If I hadn't known before I would most definitely have figured it out when cobwebs started to grow on the guests, the candles had gone out, smothered from the webs, and yet her song, her spell, did not falter. Light spilled through the window, but only a little, only light from the moon and outside lamps shone in but it was enough for me to see that her eyes were on Arthur who had a cobweb over his head like a veil and I knew, immediately, that her intention was to do something to him. She was growing ever closer to the royals table and I knew that I must bide my time, as soon as she stepped beneath the second chandelier, she pulled a dagger from beneath her sleeve, lifted it above her head as though to throw it and I used my magick to send the chandelier plummeting to the ground, and in addition, her. She looked up and managed to move enough that her head was not hit and she was simply pinned beneath the chandeliers weight. As she fell the song stopped and the guests started to wake, confused with the many cobwebs hanging around and on them. The King stood up and looked at the woman who I now noticed had changed, she no longer looked like Lady Helen and instead looked to be the mourning mother I saw on my first say here. Arthur stood as well but I only caught this slight movement out of the corner of my eye. The old woman, beneath the chandelier, looked up and pulled herself up enough to throw the dagger. Straight at Arthur. Without thinking I slowed time and ran the few steps to him yanking him to the side, causing the dagger to impale the chair he had been sat on and us both to land in a heap on the floor. He had tried to turn us so that I would land on him and not the other way around but just managed to make us both land on our sides. Painful, yes, but much better than if he had landed on me, I would probably have been crushed with the force I pulled him at. As we both slowly say up, the old woman died, the weight of the chandelier too much for her. Arthur stood and offered me his hand which I gratefully accepted. My dress was covered in dust but I didn't care very much. His hand didn't release mine straight away, only when the King stepped towards us did he let go and my hand fell to my side. The king put his hand on Arthurs shoulder and faced me, eyes wide with gratitude.

"You saved my boys life. A debt must be repaid." I shook my head, unable to force words out of my mouth but he continued. "Don't be modest. You shall be rewarded." I felt my cheeks growing red from both Uthers words and the way Arthur was looking at me.

"No, honestly, you don't have to your highness." I curtsied slightly but not enough for me to topple over in my unbalanced state. Uther was adamant.

"No. Absolutely. This merits something quite special." He had tears in his eyes and it made me respect the King more than I ever thought I could, he may love his Kingdom but he loved his son more, greatly so. "You shall be given a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's man servant." Say what? He started to walk away and Arthur called after him.

"Father!" He seemed agitated, well I wasn't much pleased with it either. I don't normally mind being thought of as a boy, but when so obviously dressed as a woman? Are you kidding me? The crowd were clapping and I had no idea what to say or do. Arthur looked at me dumbstruck. The King turned back to us.

"Yes, my boy?" Arthur didn't seem to think his father would respond and didn't have the words when he did to begin with. I quite enjoyed the quick silence but it didn't last.

"Erm… I mean no disrespect but has it escaped your notice that this Lady is… well… a lady?" I chuckled slightly. Lady my ass. Is it possible? No. He must surely know who I am.

"Arthur, I am very certain that Merlin is indeed a female, yes. Is there a problem with that?" I noticed how Uther didn't think me a lady but was shocked that he even knew who I was, by name too.

"Merlin?" The prince looked at me, eyes wide with pure shock. I just raised a single eyebrow and enjoyed his stupidity. The King turned away and went to his guests, there was no need to change the subject, Arthur had missed his chance when he was too startled by who I was.

Back in my room now, I sat in my already dust covered green dress against the wall and stared at the growing flames of a candle. Arthur had kept his eyes on me almost constantly for the remainder of the 'celebration'. Guards had taken the old woman's body away and the chandelier before replacing it with another almost immediately, after an hour it seemed as though no one even remembered what had happened, apart from a certain few. It wasn't long after that I made my escape, as soon as Arthur's eyes had flitted away to one of his Knights I ran, holding my dress up as I did so for fear of tripping over it and falling to the ground. I must have been sat here staring at the flickering orange and red of the candle flame for at least an hour when Gaius returned, entering my room almost immediately with something in his arm, whatever it was had been covered with a red cloth.

"It seems you're a hero." I laughed without humour.

"Hard to believe isn't it." At least, it was for me, Gaius thought otherwise.

"No. I knew it from the moment I met you. You saved my life remember." I hardly think that the fall from the balcony would have killed him, but it probably would have hurt a great deal. Besides, I had used magick to do so and he had pretty much banned me from doing so again, unless in extreme circumstances. I guess today counted as such, right?

"But… that was magick." He nodded, knowingly.

"And now it seems, we've finally found a use for it." Great. Not only was the dragon saying I had to use it to keep Arthur safe but Gaius thought so too.

"What do you mean?" Is it possible that he'd spoken to the dragon too?

"I saw how you saved Arthurs life." Apparently not. In that case i'll deny everything.

"Ohhhh no."

"Perhaps that's its use for it." Dammit. Denial won't work any more, time I just upped and did what I had to.

"My destiny." I nodded whilst saying it and looked back at the flame.

"Indeed." He pulled the square shaped concealed object in my lap. "This book was given to me when I was your age but I have a feeling it'll have more use to you than it did to me." I slowly took the book in my hands and uncovered it. Simple apart from the metal shape in its centre and the fastenings on its side. I quickly and silently undid them and opened the book, flicking through the pages and made a joyful sound before looking back up at Gaius.

"But this is a book of magick." Although I spoke a worrying thought, it did nothing to hinder my excitement.

"Which is why you must keep it hidden." He was right. A huge smile stayed in place as I looked from Gaius to the book and back again.

"I will study every word." He smiled back at me before a knock came from the door and a voice calling through it.

"Merlin. Prince Arthur wants you right away." Great. I had hoped that any jobs he had would at least wait until tomorrow. Gaius was still smiling but it was a smug smile.

"Your destiny is calling. You'd best find out what he wants." I nodded and placed the book on my bedroom table, I smiled a last smile at Gaius and headed to Arthurs room. I never even had time to change clothes.


	8. First Day In Hell

I took a deep breath before knocking on Arthurs door.

"Come in." I opened the door and stepped into his room. It was huge of course, that was to be expected and had many beautiful things, again expected. I normally liked things simple but the majesty of his room made me reconsider. As beautiful as his room was it was also a mess. Clothes strew about and armour wherever there was space to put it, no wonder he'd had his guards send for me.

"Not had time to change your clothes or do you only own the one outfit. No, of course not. After all, the last time we met you'd been impersonating a boy." I rolled my eyes and looked towards the bed which is where he was sprawled. Shirtless. I tore my eyes away from his perfectly sculpted abs and looked into his eyes which were following me.

"Yes, well, would I have gotten the chance to fight you if I weren't?" He laughed.

"No, I would have had you simply locked away, for talking to me as you did." Exactly what I expected. Fortunately for me I wasn't afraid of enclosed spaces.

"Well, I believe that I have proved myself to be more than a fragile woman, which is all I wanted." He looked at me in shock before laughing.

"You have proven yourself to be an idiot; that is all." I laughed then.

"I am sorry to have hurt your pride, my lord." I curtsied, sarcastically, this time he actually noticed it.

"You couldn't hurt my pride or any other part of me no matter how much you tried." A smirk graced my lips.

"You would be surprised." He sat up on his bed and looked at me, _really_ looked at me. As if taking in the fact that I was, indeed, a woman. And one who was not kneeling at his feet.

"I already have been. I am especially surprised that I never noticed how feminine you really were." I was unsure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult and so did not answer. I simply cleaned his room and he left me to it, we didn't really speak very much after that..

We were stood in a field just outside the castle walls. He was in armour and if I hadn't seen him shirtless I would think that it was the most attractive sight I had ever seen. The pair of us stood with swords and shields but instead of full body armour all I got was a helmet and a neck guard.

"Are you ready?" He was taunting me, he knew I was a terrible fighter and loved egging me on in order for me to at least try and fail.

"Would it make any difference if I said no?" I placed my sword in its sheaf and placed the helmet atop my head with my hair inside it so as to not get in my way. I had planned to stick with wearing dresses but when Arthur said I was to help him train I changed into the drawstring pants, shirt and boots. I didn't bother to conceal my hair anymore. Everyone already knew who I was after last night. Arthur had his back to me but I could detect the sound of him swinging his sword.

"Not really." He faced me and I pulled my sword back out before he advanced. "Body." I immediately put my shield in front of my chest. "Shield." I tightened my grip as he tried to knock it from my hand. It continued like this for a few minutes. "Body. Shield. Body Shield." I was backing away as we fought and started to lose my balance a little. "Head." Head? Then a clanging came from my helmet and a thudding pain as his sword collided with the top of it. He started to circle around me as I briefly clutched my head. I followed his movements circling him in return. "Come on, Merlin. You're not even trying." He was taking it easy on me, I'd seen him a lot worse with the knights he fought. Paying no attention to any pain he may cause them. A part of me was glad he didn't want to hurt me but I didn't like him thinking I was weak.

"I am trying." He got behind me and hit my ass with the flat edge of the sword causing me to stumble forward a few steps. I faced him again.

"Once more." His orders were different now, he told me where to move and I did my best to do it. "To the left. The right. Left. The head." Again he got me in the head, this time from the side causing me to lose my balance and stumble a few steps to the side, he started trying to get behind me again and I mirrored his movements, keeping him in sight at all times. "Come on Merlin. I've got a tournament to win." The tournament was in a few days and a lot of Arthurs Knights had bared the force of his training, so much that they had been coming up with excuses for why they couldn't do it anymore. This meant I got the job.

"Can we stop now?" Apparently not. He put his sword up again and almost immediately advanced. There was no warning when he struck out for my legs but I managed to jump back in time, he went for my left and I blocked it with my shield. This time I was saying what he was doing in my head. Body, block with sword. Shield, tighten grip. And then the head again. I didn't get chance to block that. First my left side, then my right and finally right on the very top in three fast moves. This time I didn't regain my balance and fell straight onto my ass, then my back and the helmet flew off. He stood above me, looking down. For some reason he almost always seemed to be shocked when he saw me, as though he still expected the boy to appear and the girl to be a figment of his imagination. He shook himself out of his stupor and grinned at me.

"You're braver than you look. Most servants collapse after the first blow." Ugh.

"Is it over?" The ground was slightly off centre and I felt a little sick.

"That's just the warm up. How's your mace work coming along." In actual fact I was rather good with a mace, after getting over the fear of hitting myself with it I'd practiced on my own with the moves I'd need. I was quite looking forward to seeing Arthurs face when I started fighting back.

I left my helmet where it was as I struggled to see out of it and he looked at it.

"You might want to put that back on." I shook my head and he sighed before lunging, I dodged as he advanced. In the end I threw my mace out and it hit him in the stomach. His guard didn't stop him from being winded and I was starting to enjoy myself. My victory was short lived as once back to normal he advanced, harder than before and within moments I had lost my balance and was again on the floor. I _really_ needed to ask Morgana for help, if only she didn't view me the same as Arthur did. Nothing but a servant.

We trained for the better part of the day, I barely improved. I needed a teacher, not someone to use me as a target. Gaius started to question me as soon as I entered our chambers. He became immediately aware of my presence when I dropped my helmet and now thoroughly dented shield.

"So how was your first day as Arthur's servant?" He was chuckling to himself, enjoying my pain. I could barely hear him, my head was still ringing.

"Do you hear clanging?" He started to chuckle harder as I rubbed my head before sitting me down and massaging my aching shoulders. I finally got the strength to answer him.

"It was horrible! And I've still got to learn all that tournaments etiquette before the morning." I saw the book for it lying further down the table, I didn't have the strength to reach for it so I used my magick. "_Unhuen octem bracten_." The book slid over to me and opened to the page I'd willed it. Gaius' hands stopped and then one smacked me upside the head.

"Oy. What have I told you about using magick like this?" He wasn't so much angry as exasperated.

"If I could actually feel my arms I'd pick up the book myself." I probably wouldn't have. I have grown to used to using magick for such trivial things, but Gaius didn't need to know that.

"Never mind your arms. What do I do if you get caught?" Good question.

"What would you do?" He grabbed my arm and pulled it back a little, it hurt but felt much better afterwards.

"Lets just make sure that doesn't happen for both our sakes." He was serious and I understood his concern. I didn't really want to lose my head and I didn't want Gaius getting in any trouble either.

"I save Arthur from being killed and I end up as a servant. How is that fair?" Gaius continued to my lower arm, again it hurt but felt better afterwards.

"I don't think fairness comes into it. You never know it might be fun." Pfft yeah right.

"You think mucking out Arthur's horses is going to be fun?" Riding them? Yes, I enjoyed that but mucking out? You'd have to be mental to think it fun and the rest. "You should see my list of duties."

"Well we all have duties. Even Arthur." What duties? Sitting on his throne playing Prince? Yeah, big job that.

"It must be so tough for him. With all the girls and the glory." At least Gaius could tell I was being sarcastic, even if he did pull a little harder than necessary on the arm he was now working on.

"Well he is the future King. People expect so much of him. He's under a lot of pressure." Speaking of pressure, Gaius seemed to be putting a little too much on my arm.

"That makes two of us."


	9. Training With Morgana & Strange Emotions

I had finished cleaning Arthur's room and he had one of the Knights to practice with today so I had a full three hours before I'd have to return to Arthur's chamber with his dinner. I was almost positive that if I returned to Gaius' chamber that he would give me a list of chores so I had taken the liberty of putting my drawstring pants and T shirt in my bag. I already wore my boots instead of more 'ladylike' shoes but thankfully my simple black dress covered my feet, with this in mind I made my way to Lady Morgana's chambers. Gwen had already informed me that Morgana had no plans today and so I was hoping that she may be able to teach me how to actually wield a sword instead of just kicking my ass with one like Arthur.

I knocked lightly on Morgana's door.

"Come on in." I opened it to find her stood by the window watching Arthur train; I felt a stir of jealousy and couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

"My lady." I curtsied and she made a motion for me to stand not even glancing in my direction.

"Look at him. Thinks he's Gods gift or something. A fine King he can become but not if he continues to be so full of himself." I very much wanted to agree and yet didn't think it was my place to speak so. "I saw the pair of you training yesterday, you have potential you know? Arthur can see it too, that's probably why he won't train you himself. After all, you have already made a fool of him once; his precious ego can't take much more." This time I couldn't help laughing and she finally looked away from the window to me, smirking a little herself. "It was a very admirable thing you did, challenging him. Especially considering you are in actual fact, a woman. We need more women like us, who aren't afraid to fight for what they believe in. I would very much like to try and train you, if you are willing to." A large smile broke out on my face, I had been coming up here to ask her about that and there she was offering. My day couldn't get much better.

"I would be delighted for you to teach me how not to get my butt kicked." She laughed with me and called for Gwen who rushed into the room almost immediately.

"Yes, my lady?" It was just formality that Gwen called her that, as you could see easily that they were friends by the way they interacted with each other and the conversation I'd had with Gwen only two days before when she thought Morgana would become the Queen. I still didn't really like the idea, but I wasn't sure why. Morgana seemed nice enough and she was most definitely beautiful, she was well known for her fighting skills too, she would make a good Queen; I just didn't like the idea of her being _Arthur's_ queen.

"Prepare my Armour. Merlin here is going to learn how to kick Arthur on his ass." Gwen giggled and I looked at Morgana in shock. I had never expected the word 'ass' to come from her lips but then I smiled. I could see Morgana becoming a good friend.

"You're doing well, but try not to swing your sword so hard, you're leaving yourself open for too long and as you do it would be easy for your opponent to catch you whilst you regain it." I nodded, smiling. Morgana was a great teacher and I had gone from Novice to Average in an hour but she was right. Everytime I swung my sword, my balance would wane and I would be left trying to regain my footing.

Morgana advanced again and I fended her off well, this time my swings were short and well planned. The only time I swung it too far, Morgana went to catch me in my exposed stomach and I used the force to spin out of the way before catching her in the side. Her smile was huge and so was mine.

"That's brilliant. You are going to kick Arthurs ass when you next train with him." I took my hair out of the braid and redid it as we took a break, I had decided not to bother with the helmet as Morgana had noticed how much it hindered my eyesight stopping me being able to fight to my full potential so we fought without helmets but Morgana had leant me one of her spare sets of armour.

"I don't know. He's fast and had a lot more practice than me." She laughed, a beautiful, musical sound that had me smiling.

"He is yes. However you are on par with me now, you are a natural in sword fighting, I already noticed that, you just required some guidance." She saw that I was still unsure. I knew the Lady Morgana was good with a sword but from what I had seen and heard there was no one in the kingdom better than Arthur.

"Do you know why he never trains with me?" I shook my head. I actually had been wondering that in the past, she was good enough to at least give him a good training partner. "Because I always beat him." I laughed myself then, I could see it actually. She knew that I was laughing because of the mental image I now had of Arthur on the floor at Morgana's mercy, whereas others would probably laugh in disbelief. I believed it.

"I would give anything to see that. Arthur at the mercy of a woman. He would die of embarrassment." She laughed with me.

"Well he'll be at the mercy of a woman the next time you train." We went back to laughing and trained again until I had half an hour to get changed and fetch Arthur's dinner. At a break during training Morgana had shown me how to put on each piece of the armour and what each was called which also stopped me having to read up on it all later. She'd also agreed that we would train again soon and so after thanking her and promising to go for a ride with her when I next had a few hours spare, I left to get ready to go to Arthurs chamber with his dinner.

Instead of changing into a new dress I just got back into the black one I had shoved in my bag as I got into my pants and shirt to train, Gaius hadn't asked where I'd been as he probably thought I had been cleaning up after Arthur all day but I was too tired to explain and was in a rush to put my bag away and go fetch Arthurs dinner so I didn't bother to let him know where I'd spent the better part of today.

"Come in Merlin." I struggled to open the door whilst holding the tray on my weak arms but finally managed and gained an eye roll as a welcome.

"Is there anything you _can_ do?" I placed his food on the desk he was sat at before answering back with my usual snarky comments.

"Yes. I can make you look like an idiot." He glared at me and I shrugged with a smile.

"You really are an idiot aren't you?" There really was something up his butt today; he'd been moody with me at all times I'd been around.

"Nope, I'm just a good actress." I started to clean away the armour he had hazardously chucked on the floor and began polishing it on his spare table.

"You must be extraordinarily talented to act that dumb." I took a deep breath, trying not to turn around and clobber him.

"Just eat your food, Arthur." I carried on polishing away.

**Arthurs Point Of View**

I had been in a foul mood all day and I could tell how much it had been bugging Merlin but I'd had the strangest dream about her last night where she'd walked into my room in the middle of the night in nothing but her nightgown and I'd welcomed her into my bed like it was normal. It had arisen feelings within me that weren't permitted, she was a servant, I was the prince and yet everytime I'd looked at her today I felt the same stomach quivering and the same sort of quivering in _other_ parts of my body that made me short with her, trying to get her to leave me alone. It hadn't helped that the black dress she chose to wear today was snug fitting and allowed me to view each curve of her gorgeous body. No! I couldn't think like that. It's just Merlin. She's a lowly servant who is terrible at her job and has too much attitude, whenever I needed her she was either late or no where to be found. Just today I'd been looking for her after I'd trained so she could prepare me a bath, unfortunately training hadn't gone as long as I'd planned for it too as Sir Lionel had taken a bad fall and smacked his head too hard and was sent off to Gaius.

"Where were you earlier?" She didn't even look at me, just continued to polish.

"With Morgana." That was a little frightening, Morgana knew far too much about me and I very much hoped she didn't share those secrets with Merlin.

"Why?" She sighed and turned to look at me in agitation.

"Because I felt like it, I did not know I had to explain why I went where in my spare time." I didn't bother to ask her again. Just went back to eating ash she continued to polish. I decided that I would just ask Morgana tomorrow, if it were anything important then she would tell me. Maybe they had simply become friends as Morgana and Gwen had, and Merlin and Gwen were. I had finished eating now and noticed that Merlin was still working, I took time to watch her and noticed small things like the way she would wince when scrubbing too hard and how she kept moving her shoulders. Was it possible that she was still aching from yesterday? I hoped not, I would feel bad if she was in pain because of me. Just as I thought this I heard her hiss in pain and drop the brush before clutching her shoulder. I silently stalked toward her and took a hold of each of her shoulders and massaging them gently, she stiffened at first before allowing her head to fall forwards. I didn't know why I was helping relieve her pain; maybe it was because I felt guilty or because I couldn't afford for her to take time off work to nurse the aches her body suffering. Either way I had to fight not to press my lips into her exposed neck, I actually started to lean forward when she stepped forward and turned to me.

"Thankyou." Her voice held gratitude and I realised how close I'd come to actually doing something that could get us both in a lot of trouble so I answered the only way I could. I got defensive and became a jerk.

"Well, I couldn't exactly have you slacking at work. I need you at your best with this tournament and all." I saw the gratitude in her eyes extinguish and become replaced by fire as she got angry.

"Oh yes. Wouldn't want anyone to think you actually cared." That hurt because I did care, for her and the other servants, I cared about all of my people.

"Take my armour with you. I wish to retire for the night." She just nodded before spinning on her heel, grabbing my armour and the polish and storming out. I hated being an ass with her but I did enjoy getting her wound up.


	10. Tournaments and Creeps

It was the first day of the tournament and I was stood with Arthur trying to get his armour on him. I wasn't sure whether it was because I was in such close proximity to him, so close that I could actually smell his manly woody scent, or that the armour was just plain fiddly that I took a long time to get the bloody thing on.

"You do know the tournament starts _today_?" He seemed agitated and on edge, probably just nerves.

"Yes sire." I decided not to wind him up right now as he seemed to be so, well, knightly. I had almost finished getting the darn armour on and was just tightening the Hauberk. "Are you nervous?" His facial expression didn't change and his voice was clipped when he answered.

"I don't get nervous." Yeah right.

"Really? I thought everyone got nervous?" My voice wasn't mocking in any way but I found it hard not to chuckle at the fact he was trying to act all brave around me. He took the question as an insult which didn't surprise me since his attitude stunk worse than usual today.

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP!" I finally finished tightening the Hauberk and went to grab his red cape, ignoring his tirade and doing what he said for a change. I could clearly see the anger on his face but it sort of shifted when I draped the cape over him and stood facing him, close enough that were I to shift forward and up a tiny bit more I could probably kiss him. No! That's enough Merlin! I hurriedly did the cape up and passed him his helmet before stepping back and admiring my handiwork or just admiring him. STOP IT! I shook my head and spoke as he looked at me like I was an idiot. Nothing new there then.

"Great, yeah. I think you're all set." I couldn't help my proud smile, he still wasn't happy.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ahh shit, what now? "My sword!" Oops.

"Oh yeah. Sorry. You'll be needing that." I quickly grabbed it off the rack and handed it over to him, he snatched it out of my hand and stormed towards the arena. What an asshole! Not nervous my ass!

I watched as all the Knights walked together before standing in a line facing the crowd where Uther stood talking to them.

"Knights of the realm. It's a great honour to welcome you to the tournament at Camelot. Over the next three days you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors and of course to challenge the raining champion. My son. Prince Arthur. Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion and he will receive a prize of one thousand gold pieces." Morgana opened a chest with the gold pieces within and they glistened in the sunlight. Hell! I'd compete for that! Uther continued. "It is in combat that we learn a knights true nature. Whether he's indeed a warrior or a coward. Let the tournament begin!" The crowd cheered an the Knights bowed before leaving the Arena. Only two stayed, Arthur and Sir Aglovale de Galis. No Knight bar one has really captured my attention but I was permitted to know each by name. The only Knight who I'd noticed was Sir Valiant of the Western Isles, his shield bore the symbol of three entwined snakes. He was rather big but not terribly so, probably the same build as Arthur, he had brown hair and a slight roughness around the moustache and beard area showing that he had shaved around a week ago but none of this was what drew my attention. There was something in his eyes that had me immediately on edge, they were green and held a sort of knowing, evil look within them; they confused me. The only thing I did know was that I didn't want Arthur to fight this Knight, he was deadly in a hidden kind of way. I would not have noticed such close observations if not for the look he kept throwing me, as though I were merely an object, one he aimed to obtain custody of, that thought made me shiver; even more so when he walked past me and brushed his hand up my arm causing me to jerk away further into the wall I had been leaning against. As the other Knights passed I turned to look back at the arena as the fight started to begin.

Two guards brought Arthur and Aglovale there shields and the Knights removed there cloaks, throwing them to the guards who caught them in mid-air and hurriedly vacated the area. The Knights were left alone, surrounded by the crowd stood in their stands, and placed their helmets atop their heads as the crowd cheered. With no warning both unsheathed there swords and attacked each other. In the beginning Arthur was in defense mode before his fight instincts kicked in and he swung a good couple of shots that Aglovale struggled to block. As the Knights got closer Arthur shoved Aglovale with his shoulder and the Knights struggled to regain balance. I found myself cheering Arthur on without realizing it, thoughts of Valiant forgotten. There were a few close calls when Aglovale's sword came a little too close to Arthur for my taste, especially the one aimed at his neck which Arthur neatly ducked but Arthur quickly got back into the fight, elbowing Aglovale in the helmet which must have hurt because Aglovale went down and the helmet tumbled off, leaving him unconscious on the floor. The crowd went wild myself among them as Arthur headed back over to me I smiled brilliantly and he returned it which was a little surprising. After placing his helmet on the floor Arthur leant against the wall beside me and we continued to silently watch as the next fight began. Valiant against Sir Ywain. It wasn't long before Valiant had Ywaine knocked unconscious on the floor, I had been right about the fact he was deadly. He had been constantly on the attack and in the end Ywain had tired causing him to lose, I had been desperately hoping that Valiant would be taken down before the end of today's fights but unfortunately he won each of them, as did Arthur who had become more cheery with me the more victories he had. Arthur seemed to be assessing Valiant as I had throughout the matches.

"Knight Valiant seems pretty handy with a sword." It was true, although I didn't like the guy I couldn't help but notice he was very skilled and used the sword as though it were a piece of him. Arthur hadn't answered me and just continued to watch on in silence. At the end of the day I started to remove his armor and Valiant made his way over to us, looking between me and Arthur. Before I had wanted people to actually look at me as more than Arthur's lapdog but with the way Valiant looked at me, it made me change my mind; I'd much rather be ignored.

"May I offer my congratulations on your victories today." Valiant had a rather nice accent, it was endearing but neither the accent nor the words he spoke had me convinced that he was a man of honour.

"Likewise." Arthur was a little short with him but I had to agree that I liked how he wasn't getting friendly with the strange man stood before us. The strangest part about it was that as Valiant looked at me Arthur moved closer to my side as though he were trying to protect me. I was probably being silly, thinking that his slight movements were more than they were but it was nice to think such things. Noticing that Arthur wasn't interested in his words Valiant cast one last look at me where I was stood tall, my eyes boring into him; he was a snake and with snaked you could never allow them to see weakness.

"I'll see you at the reception this evening." Arthur didn't respond and Valiant left, his manservant following close behind.

"Creep." I couldn't help letting those words slip out as Valiant got out of hearing range and Arthur chuckled slightly however as soon as I giggled too and looked at him his face went back to being serious.

"For tomorrow you need to; repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword and polish my armour." He carried on naming these things as he walked away and didn't notice the shock on my face. Why was it that every time we started to get along he would give me things to do? Maybe I should just stop trying. Nah, it wasn't in me to give up. Besides I'd grown to like the prince, a little. In all seriousness though how was I supposed to get all that done in one night. There was only one answer.

I had my magick book open in my lap as I sat against my headboard. Around me a hammer was banging into a shield, knocking out the dents on its own. A bowl of water with Arthurs tunic being dumped in and out by an invisible force. A polished rag was rubbing Arthur's boots and armour and his sword was being sharpened too. It was strange how quickly I had managed to do all these things at once along with read at the same time, it was easy and yet hard. I could do it but I knew that any interruption would result in me losing concentration and everything would fall to the floor which is exactly what happened when Gaius walked in. I quickly placed my book to my chest as the items fell and Gaius stood looking around, he wasn't happy.

"Are you using magick again?" Obviously.

"No." Why did I always deny obvious things?

"What's all this then?" He pointed to the fallen objects and I shrugged. With a great sigh Gaius made to leave.

"I just came to tell you that supper's ready." He shut the door behind him and I made my own relieved sigh. Damn Gaius and his barging in.


	11. Knight In Shining Armour

I had spent the previous night dreaming about the evil eyes of Sir Valiant, there was just something about him that gave me the shivers. Not in a good way either. I headed over to the armoury to get Arthurs stuff together for him because he was too lazy to do it himself, still it was a nice day and I rather enjoyed the brief walk in the sun but the dark, musty armoury was enough to put a damper on my moods as I reached the table baring Arthurs things, as I started to pick them up I heard a strange hissing noise.

"Hello?" Oh yeah cause if it's hissing it's definitely going to reply, sometimes I wondered if Arthur was right about me being an idiot. "Is there someone there?" Yeah, I'm definitely an idiot. It didn't sound like a person it sounded like… snakes. As I looked to the floor my eyes caught on Sir Valiant's shield, three entwined snakes were the crest and I found myself knelt by it. Just as I went to berate myself for thinking the hissing was coming from an inanimate object I saw one of there eyes blink. That was weird on so many levels, one being that real snakes don't blink. I found myself concentrating harder on the snakes and put a hand out to touch the shield when a sword was shoved into my chest; slowly I stood to see Sir Valiant on the other end of the deadly weapon.

"Can I help you with something, girl?" I was stood frozen staring into those eyes I'd had nightmares about. I shook my head fast.

"No. I'm good. I was just… erm… gathering my masters armour." Master? What the hell? Since when did I refer to Arthur as Master? Had to be the fear talking and with good reason as Valiant continued to advance on me as I backed away. My back hit the table with Arthurs armour and I stood still, unable to move any further.

"You know? For a servant you are rather… beautiful." His sword was still out and he was looking me up and down, I found myself struggling not to puke, his sword lowered but as it did he got closer, entrapping me between him and the table.

"The Prince will be wondering where I am." I had emphasized prince hoping to dissuade him but it did the opposite. Instead of backing away he moved closer, I could feel his breath on my neck where he rubbed his nose along it and when he whispered a shiver rippled down my spine.

"Does he not like to share? What a pity. It's a good thing I have no desire to respect the Prince's wishes. _Any_ of his wishes." I squirmed as he moved his face closer to my own and tried pushing him away –there was no way I could use magick, he would go straight to Arthur or maybe even the king –he was too strong and simply moved me towards a column where he pinned both of my hands with one of his very large ones. The hand was moving to the laces behind my dress, his sword now back in his scabbard, tears began to run down my face.

"Please. Please don't. I'll tell Arthur and you will pay." He laughed as his hand that had been reaching for the laces now wrapped itself around my throat and he forced his lips onto my own. My own lips were unmoving and he tried forcing them open, when I didn't relent he squeezed my throat harder and shoved his tongue in when I tried gasping for air.

"That's a good girl." He mumbled between kisses and his hand reached for my laces again. He only managed to untie the first knot when he was hauled away from me. I fell to the floor now that his weight had been lifted off. I was struggling to catch my breath when I noticed that Arthur was fighting Valiant.

"You dare to cause harm to one of my people when you are a guest in this castle!" I had never seen Arthur so angry before and it really was a sight to behold. His eyes were flashing fire and ice at the same time, his body almost glowed and he seemed so much bigger and much more powerful. Valiant must have saw it too because his eyes turned from rage to fear and with seconds he was on the ground with Arthurs sword at his chest.

"Please, Sire. I meant no disrespect to you." Arthur did not care for his words that much was obvious but if he killed Valiant over me there would be consequences; at best Arthur would be in a lot of trouble with Uther and worst… well it could possibly mean war between Camelot and the Western Isles.

"It is not me you have hurt!" Arthur knew he shouldn't kill Valiant, otherwise he would have already killed him. "Apologize to the Lady." Lady? I was merely a servant, I was no lady. Valiant turned his head to where I knelt, frozen with shock.

"I… I'm sorry… I don't know what I was thinking… I deeply apologize." There was a hardness to his eyes when he looked at me and it was obvious he didn't mean it. His eyes spoke volumes they said that he would come back for me and I would pay.

"This is not over Valiant. We will settle this on the arena. Now get out!" Arthur removed his sword and Valiant scrambled to his feet, grabbed his armour and left but not before throwing another warning look at me. Arthur placed his sword back in his scabbard and knelt in front of me. As he lifted his hand to cup my chin I flinched away, still scared of what almost happened.

"It's okay Merlin. I won't hurt you. Just let me look at your neck." I struggled to face him and even then I couldn't look in his eyes. He moved slower than before as he gently pushed my chin up so I had to look at him but he wasn't looking at me, his gaze was focused on the sore skin around my neck. "It's going to bruise I'm afraid. Valiant will pay for this. You have my word." His gaze met mine and there was a spark in them that I had never seen before. It said so much and yet so little. Whatever they were saying, I could not read them. I had never seen such a look in anyone's eyes –no one who'd been looking at me anyway. Arthur stood and offered me his hand. I took it and struggled to my feet. My knees shook and Arthur placed my arm over his shoulder and his went around my waist supporting me. I was weak with fear and he slowly lead me out of the armoury and down towards Gaius' chambers. I couldn't find my voice but for some reason I didn't feel the need to talk, I enjoyed the silence between us, it was comfortable, it was safe.

Once we arrived at the door to Gaius' chambers Arthur opened it and we saw Gaius stood at one of his tables preparing something, his eyes widened as soon as he took in my fragile state.

"What happened?" I tried to talk but my voice came out sounding like nothing more than a groan. Arthur sat me down on a stool and took hold of my hand as he turned to Gaius.

"Valiant had her against the armoury column by the throat. He was trying to… he was going to… he…" Arthur couldn't form the words to describe what Valiant had been about to do so I spoke them, they were barely audible but they both heard.

"He tried to rape me." The tears that had dried at some point started to pour freely again and Arthur gently massaged my hands as Gaius started looking for something. None of us spoke about what had happened, there was no need to. Gaius came over and handed me a vial.

"Drink this. It will help with the pain, unfortunately I cannot do anything about the bruises; they will have to fade in their own time." I downed the vial and it hurt to swallow, so much so that I made a whimper as it finished going down. Arthur's hand didn't let go of mine and I realised that I didn't want him to; he made me feel safe. My eyes were starting to close as the mornings events crept up on me. I was so tired. Arthur noticed my eyes beginning to droop.

"Merlin? You should rest. I'll get someone else to cover your duties today." My eyes immediately re-opened. I had to be there to make sure Arthur was safe. I had to go to the tournament and more than anything I had to show Valiant that I wasn't afraid of him. I started to shake my head. Gaius knew why I didn't want to stay here and he spoke to Arthur for me so I didn't hurt my voice.

"I believe she wants to watch the tournament. It doesn't come around very often." Arthur began to look at me in a strange way, as though he knew that really I wanted to watch him. But he couldn't know and if he did he didn't comment.

"Alright. But Merlin, if you start to feel too tired or weak or anything else then let me know and I'll have you brought back to your chambers. Don't wear yourself out. Okay?" I nodded my head and Arthur helped me up. He was looking in my eyes and I looked into his, it was as though there was no one else around but I knew in the back of my head that Gaius was watching.

"Thankyou." My voice was still husky and sore but I had to say it. He had saved me, in more ways than one.

"I would not allow any harm to come to you, Merlin. Never." He made me feel happy and warm and safe. I spent my time feeling alone… unless I was with him. I wanted him to… I wanted… what I wanted was unthinkable. He was the prince and I was his servant. He could never feel for me as I felt myself beginning to feel for him. I wanted him to kiss me but of course, he didn't and I slowly let him lead me to the arena.


	12. Snakebite

When we arrived at the in Arthur's chamber his armour had already been placed on a table, when I looked to Arthur in question he just shrugged and said;

"I didn't want you to go back in there." I smiled up at him and he stared at me for a while before smiling back and kissing my hand as he released it. When he looked back at the armour he seemed confused and then I realised that he was noticing that I'd done all he'd asked of me the day before.

"You did all of this on your own?" He wasn't smiling anymore but he didn't seem in a bad mood either. He was just making conversation.

"Yes sire." It was rare for me to address him as that but sometimes I just did it by instinct. He seemed shocked each time I called him that, almost as shocked as when he realised I was a woman,

"Well let's see if you can get me into it without forgetting anything." Mr nice Prince is gone then. I hurriedly got to work and had all of his equipment on him in record time. "That was much better." I smiled before his arrogance kicked in. "Not that it could have got any worse." I took his snide remarks in stride, he had saved my life after all and I didn't think his comments were so much to put me down as it was that he liked our bickering.

"I'm a fast learner." Especially when I used magick to help.

"I hope for your sake that's true." I could see that his words meant more than what they said and something about the look he gave me made me think that it had something to do with underestimating Valiant.

"Good luck." My voice was soft and had stopped sounding so husky; whatever Gaius had given me must be beginning to work. We didn't speak anymore and just headed down to the Arena where the second day of the tournament was about to begin.

The audience immediately began to applaud as Arthur walked to the centre and I stood on the sidelines watching. I was smiling in his direction when Gaius appeared at my shoulder.

"Is it my imagination or are you beginning to enjoy yourself?" He was right. I actually found myself enjoying being in Arthur's company more and more each day.

"It isn't… totally horrible all the time." Cleaning his stables was the horrible bit. Without another word we turned to watch the fight between Arthur and Sir Adrian that was just starting. Arthur was kicking Sir Adrian's ass and I was shouting encouragement the entire time whilst Gaius laughed at my exuberance. I had almost forgotten about what had happened less than an hour ago until Valiant stalked past me muttering that;

"I'll be seeing you later." That immediately put a damper on my mood and I felt Gaius' comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Arthur just saw what happened. I'm sure the only person Valiant will be seeing later is him." I nodded, not really listening to what Gaius said. I had kept my eyes on my feet the rest of the fight and when the cheering picked up I only spared a glance for Arthur to see that he had won before retreating my line of site to the bottom of my dress again. Arthur came over to me and placed his helmet by my feet before standing to his full height and gently lifting my chin so I would look him in the eye.

"Don't listen to him, Merlin. He won't touch you. I promise." His words were so sincere I couldn't not believe him and it made me feel better; safer. After giving him a smile he released my chin and stood to my side; close enough for me to feel his body heat. Valiant was up next and he was fighting Sir Yuwin. Sir Yuwin had been winning the match and I was happy; thinking that it meant Valiant would return back home and Arthur wouldn't have to fight him. Unfortunately the table's turned pretty quickly after and Valiant soon had Yuwin on the floor but he didn't stop fighting back; Yuwin pushed up with his shield but for what seemed like no reason; he just dropped and Valiant stood, towering over Yuwin's limp form. Arthur was watching with the eyes of a hawk and I could see anger brimming towards Valiant as the crowd cheered him on; Uther, Gwen and Morgana included.

"I think he's badly hurt." I saw Gaius rushing over to Yuwin and I went over to help, Arthur stopped me briefly.

"Don't worry about your duties tonight. I'll arrange for someone else to do it. You go help Gaius." I smiled at him and nodded, he grabbed my hand as I turned to leave again.

"Merlin? Don't do anything stupid and go after Valiant, okay?" He seemed genuinely worried.

"I'm not that stupid." I winked at him and headed over to where Gaius was checking on Yuwin, I hated being so close to Valiant as he hadn't made his way out of the arena yet. My eyes sought out Arthur unwillingly and I found him watching Valiant with a warning gaze.

Two guards carried Yuwin to our chambers and as soon as they left Gaius was at work.

"How is he?" Gaius didn't even look up as he answered my question and I joined him by the cot.

"It's most odd. Look at this –" He pointed to Yuwin's neck and I took a closer look to see two puncture wounds with purplish skin surrounding them. "–You see these two small wounds? It looks like a snake bite." But that doesn't make sense.

"How could he have been bitten by a snake? He was injured in the sword fight." I never saw any snakes around and surely someone would have noticed one lurking on the arena.

"Well the symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, ruralises…" I had no idea what that last one even meant but Gaius was the expert, not me. Gaius stood from his former position crouched by the victim and headed over to his herbs.

"Can you heal him?" I didn't know a lot about snake bites; all I knew was that you only had a short period of time before the venom makes its way around to much of the body to be healed.

"Well if it is a snake bite I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote." But what snake?

"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" I was afraid to ask because I already knew the answer.

"Then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him. He's going to die." Gaius started putting cold towels on Yuwin's head so as to bring his temperature down whilst I tried analysing everything that could have been thought of as useful.

"He was fighting Knight Valiant!" It suddenly came to me; it was magick. The snakes on his shield were real and they had bitten Yuwin. That's where the hissing was coming from and why Valiant had been so quick to threaten me away from the shield; maybe trying to rape me was a bit extreme, the sword to the neck warned me enough.

"What was that?" Gaius looked up quickly before continuing working on Yuwin, I couldn't tell him. If I did he wouldn't let me go after Valiant. I was about to break my promise to Arthur and I couldn't help but feel really guilty about that.

"Nothing." I hurried out of the door and made my way to Valiant's quarters.

I saw him entering with his room with his shield in hand and quietly made my way to the door, peaking through a slight crack as he grabbed a round box and placed it on the table as he put his hand in I started to hear squeaking and as his hand lifted I saw a mouse struggling to get away from where Valiant's fingers were grasped around its tail. The snakes started to move and there heads actually came out of the shield as Valiant fed them the poor frightened live mouse. I ran.

I burst into Gaius' chambers and spared a quick look for poor Yuwin who was still lying in his cot unconscious before turning to Gaius' shocked expression.

"I've just saw one of the snakes on Valiant's shield come to life. He's using magick." Gaius' expression didn't change, he just looked at me as though I'd appeared out of thin air.

"Are you sure?" His voice was calm and I struggled to say what I'd seen.

"The snake ate a mouse. One swallow straight down. Yuwin was fighting Valiant when he collapsed; it must have been one of the snakes from the shield. I have to tell Arthur!" I went to leave when Gaius' next words forced me to wait.

"Is there any chance you might be mistaken." Yeah right.

"Look, I know magick when I see it." The fact that I'm behind most of it doesn't count.

"Perhaps. But have you any proof?" Well I just saw it, isn't that proof enough?

"Don't you believe me?" Gaius had never thought I would make things up before.

"I fear you'll land yourself in trouble. How will you explain why you were in Valiant's chamber?" Who cares?

"What does that matter? He's using magick to cheat in the tournament. Plus he tried to rape me in case you've forgotten." My voice was getting more high pitched and woman like as I went on.

"But you can't go accusing a knight of using magick without proof and I fear that Uther will not care about what Valiant tried to do to you. You forget; he is not Arthur, Arthur may care about you but to Uther you are just another servant; far below the standing of a Knight. Uther will never take the word of a servant over the word of a Knight." I knew what he said was right but that was such horseshit!

"So what I say doesn't count for anything?"

"I'm afraid it counts for very little as far as the King's concerned; that's the way it is." With a sigh of exasperation I went back to the arena for the second stage of the competitions; I had to be sure this didn't happen again!


	13. Day 2 of the Tournament & Trust

I was helping Arthur get back into his armour even though he'd told me numerous times I didn't need to and that he had given me the day off. I just responded by telling him that I wanted to stay busy and keep my mind off of things. He understood.

"So who are you up against next?" He gave me a slight smile and pointed to a man that was the size of a bull.

"Sir Baldwin." Holy cow! How can Arthur seem so calm with that to come?

"You're telling me you've got to fight that?" He looked at me as though he were giving me life changing advice.

"Yes and he's as strong as a bear but he's slow." I passed him his shield as I understood what he was getting at.

"And you're fast." He smiled and shook his head at how simple my reply was.

"Exactly." He gave me a crooked smile and I found myself smiling at him sweetly in return as I passed him his helmet. He walked into the arena and I took a look at the now cheering crowd. I caught Gwen saying something to a very nervous looking Morgana who shook her head in reply to whatever it was. The fight started but I didn't watch it as much as I had the others, instead I kept my eye on Valiant who smiled an evil smile at me before walking off. I watched him retreat as Gaius came over to me.

"How are you getting on?"

"Fine. Just doing my job. Minding my own business. I answered in short, clipped sentences, still angry with him. A part of me knew that it was silly and he was just telling me the truth but a bigger part was too worried about Arthur to take Gaius' emotions into consideration and so I turned my attention back to the fight. Arthur had been right; Baldwin's strikes were powerful but he was a lot slower than Arthur which gave him enough time to move out of the way of Baldwin's attacks and making him too quick for Baldwin to block his. Arthur won and I clapped politely but a part of me wanted him to lose so that he wouldn't be able to fight Valiant, I knew Valiant wouldn't lose because if he started to, he would cheat and use his shield. My worry was well spent because both Arthur and Valiant won all of their fights which meant tomorrow morning they would be fighting each other and unless I could stop it then Arthur would die. As Arthur walked back to the castle I stayed and helped tidy things up before Gaius walked over to me, I just looked at him and said what we both knew.

"Valiant is going to fight Arthur in the final; he'll use the shield to kill him." Gaius didn't say anything and so I walked back to our chamber to check on Sir Yuwin.

It had only been an hour when Gaius came in; I hadn't took my eyes away from Yuwin's still form.

"Merlin. About what I said yesterday; look Uther really wouldn't listen to you or me but you are right. We can't let Valiant get away with this." That still didn't solve our problem.

"But we don't have any proof." Gaius looked from me to Yuwin and back again.

"Well if we could cure Yuwin then he could tell the King that Valiant was using magick; the King would believe another Knight but how we get the antidote, well that's another matter." I stood up from my stool and headed for the door.

"Leave it to me."

I took the route that passed the Banquet Hall to get to Valiant's chamber and saw that he was eating dinner with Uther, Arthur and the Knights which meant I would have just enough time so I ran to Valiant's chamber; his door was locked so I concentrated on the bolt.

"_Haliasan." _It opened as I willed it to and I walked in to see the shield, the snakes weren't moving and I had no idea how to make them. I picked up a sword out of its holdall and waited; hoping for luck to be on my side. I got eye level with the shield and that was when I heard some commotion down the hall. I stood with my back to the shield and my front to the door hoping that if Valiant came in he would be unprepared and I could make a quick getaway. That was when I heard the hissing and caught the shadow of a snake poised to lunge for me, I quickly spun with my sword and one of the snake's heads rolled across the floor. The other two started toward me and I quickly grabbed up the detached head and ran for my chamber almost bumping into Valiant on the way, thankfully I spotted him first and was able to duck behind a column before he could see me leaving his chambers.

I watched Gaius as he milked the venom from the snakes mouth into a glass jar, it was a disgusting milky liquid that made me grimace at the thought of it going through someone's body and slowly killing them like it was doing to Yuwin. I can't believe we actually still had enough time to save him, it had been two days, and I honestly thought it would have passed through his main arteries and such by now.

"I'll get started preparing the antidote." Surely it would still take too long for Yuwin to come round and tell the king.

"I'm going to tell Arthur." Please let him believe me.

"You'll need this." I turned to see him passing me the snakes head and a took it without a word. "And Merlin? What you did was very brave." I smiled a thank you at him before racing to Arthur's chambers.

"You?" I nodded. "You chopped its head off?" Oh for heavens sake! Why do men always stick on the non-important details?

"Yuwin was bitten by a snake from the shield when he was fighting Valiant. You can talk to Gaius, you can see the puncture wounds in Yuwin's neck where the snake bit him. Yuwin was beating him, he had to cheat!" Arthur just shook his head as he took another bite from his dinner.

"Valiant wouldn't dare use magick in Camelot." I do, it's all about timing.

"Yuwin was pinned under Valiant's shield. No one could see the snake biting him!" Arthur continued to shake him head. Damn it! Why is he being so difficult!

"I don't like the guy but that doesn't mean he's cheating. Besides; I'm pretty sure you have other reasons for wanting him dead but this isn't the way to do it Merlin." He stood and placed a hand on my shoulder, lightly trailing my bruised neck with the other hand. It was times like this that Arthur confused me; how one second he could act as though he hated me and then others he would do some of the sweetest things. If I couldn't convince him then this might be the end of all my contact with Arthur. He'll die Merlin!

"This isn't about me Arthur. It's about Yuwin and your safety. Gaius is preparing an antidote to the venom; when Yuwin's conscious he'll tell you what happened!" He still wasn't listening he had released me but was still standing close, so much so I was forced to crane my neck to see his expression. "If you fight Valiant in the final he'll use the shield, it's the only way he can beat you!" He raised an eyebrow at my last words. Again; not the point! As my final point I grabbed the snakes head from the table and held it between us. "Look at it! Have you ever seen any snakes like this in Camelot?" He slowly reached to take it from my hand and silently studied it for a moment. He didn't speak. "I know I'm just a servant and my word doesn't count for anything." He looked up from the snake and directly into my eyes as if saying that it did to him. "I wouldn't like to you." Well not about this anyway. That I'm a witch? Yeah, I kinda have to lie about that. Arthur put his hand back on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye.

"I want you to swear to me that what you're telling me is true." I met his eyes and pushed the truth of the situation into them; showing him that I wasn't lying.

"I swear its true Arthur." He nodded slowly and released me.

"Then I believe you." I smiled up at him and he returned it before sitting back down and finishing his lunch. I just waited; when he did we headed for Uther's chambers and arranged for him to get the council together.


	14. Accusations

The guards had been sent to fetch Valiant and he arrived wearing his cloak and carrying the shield, I pointed out to Arthur when he arrived. Valiant gave me a warning loo and I struggled not to let myself cower into Arthur, he put a supportive hand on my elbow and I smiled up at him in thanks. Arthur knew that it was still hard for me to be around Valiant after what had happened and he had been very supportive whenever he was around; he had kept apologizing about the fact that his father wouldn't care and promised to keep Valiant away from me as much as was possible. Uther chose that moment to walk in and take his seat on the thrown before turning to Arthur.

"Why did you summon the court?" Arthur stepped forward and began to speak with a strong, powerful voice that gave me butterflies. Dammit Merlin! That's the Prince! Enough swooning!

"I believe Knight Valiant is using a magick shield to cheat in the tournament." Uther stood and turned to Valiant who was stood to the side.

"Valiant? What do you have to say to this?" Valiant approached the king.

"My Lord, this is ridiculous! I have never used magick. Does your son have any evidence to support this _outrageous_ accusation?" I had moved with Arthur to stand a little behind and to the side of him without realising it.

"I do." Arthur motioned for me to step forward. I moved to the king and passed him the snakes head. He took it from my ands and I curtsied slightly before returning to my spot behind Arthur which put him between me and Valiant. Uther inspected the head closely.

"Let me see this shield." Valiant held the shield out to Uther and I worried he would set the snakes on him so I whispered my concerns to Arthur.

"Don't let him get too close." He spared me a quick smile and reached into his scabbard for his sword as he spoke to his father.

"Be careful, my lord." Uther spared him only a glance and brushed his hand against the shield, at that point I heard the door open quietly and turned to see Gaius motion me to go to him. Arthur noticed too.

"We need Yuwin. Find out what's happening." I nodded and headed over to Gaius. I heard Valiant speak up.

"As you can see my lord, it's just an ordinary shield." Oh yeah like he's gonna bring the snakes to life in front of them all. Even he's not that stupid. Arthur spoke my opinion.

"He's not going to let everyone see the snakes come alive." Uther turned on Arthur then.

"Then how am I to know that what you say is true." Arthur stood his ground and I was a little proud; until Gaius whispered in my ear.

"Yuwin is dead, Merlin. I don't know what happened. He was recovering and even admitted to me what happened, I went out to get some herbs and when I came back he was no longer with us. I looked at Arthur, seeking his eyes but they were on the King. Oh no.

"I have a witness. Knight Yuwin was bitten by one of the snakes on the shield. Its venom made him grievously ill however he has received an antidote. He will confirm that Knight Valiant was using magick." Dammit! I had to admire how Arthur looked Valiant straight in the eyes as he said this but shit, our witness was dead!

"Where is this witness?" Arthur turned to me and Gaius as he spoke.

"He should be here." I met his eyes and shook my head, he looked to his father quickly before walking over to us.

"Where's Yuwin?" My voice was small and I had tears in my eyes that I hurriedly blinked back.

"He's dead." Arthur just looked at me as though he couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"I'm waiting!" The King shouted and Arthur turned back to him, looking around at the council, and then back to the King. He stood forward, back to his father, and spoke like he knew he'd already lost the case.

"I'm afraid Sir Yuwin is dead." The King was not going to go light on him, that much was obvious. He likes Valiant and had even offered him a place here in Camelot after this tournament was over.

"So you have no proof to support these allegations. Have you seen Valiant using magick?" And this is where I come into it. I am in so much trouble!

"No but my servant fought –" Gaius was right. As soon as I was mentioned, Uther had heard enough.

"Your servant? You make these outrageous accusations against a Knight on the word of your servant!" Arthur was struggling to remain on his feet here.

"I believe she is telling the truth!" Then of course Valiant had to get his say, the viper!

"My lord, am I really to be judged on some hearsay from a girl?" I couldn't let Arthur face all of Uther's wrath so I stepped forward and walked to Arthur's side, speaking the entire time.

"I've seen those snakes come alive!" Probably not the best course of action, I realised as much when Uther turned on me and screamed in my face.

"How dare you interrupt? Guards!" Shit! Arthur simply moved to the side as two guards grabbed me and made to take me out the door. Valiant stopped them.

"My lord." Uther had the guards wait and turned to him. I looked over my shoulder to see Valiant speaking words that would save my ass but I could tell by the look in his eyes that this served his purpose more than mine. "I'm sure she was merely mistaken. I wouldn't want her punished on my account." Yeah by anyone who wasn't him that is. Uther turned to Arthur and I knew it was going to be one of those why cant you be more like him speeches.

"You see? This is how a true Knight behaves –with gallantry and honour." Honour my ass! That slimy son of a –

"My lord, if your son made these accusations because he is afraid to fight me than I will graciously accept his withdrawal." As if that was ever going to happen, I wish Arthur would but his pride would never allow it. Uther stepped to Arthur with disappointment in his eyes and voice.

"Is this true? Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?" My head was beginning to hurt from the drastic change in events and I knew that Arthur was going to have my head later.

"No!"

"Then what am I to make of these allegations?" Arthur looked to the court for someone to help him. No one did. Although as I looked I could see Morgana seemed to be grasping her fists and staring daggers at Valiant's form. She believed us. Arthur had no choice but to admit a mistake.

"Obviously there has been a misunderstanding. I withdraw the accusation against Knight Valiant." Arthur put his sword back in its sheaf and it was at that point I knew we'd definitely lost. "Please accept my apology." I knew he hated to play nice with Valiant after what happened but he had no choice and he hated me for it I was sure.

"Accepted." Valiant showed himself to be an honourable Knight and no one would believe for a second he was anything but unless they saw the real him, as I had. Arthur turned to leave and stormed down the hall, Morgana went to grab him but stopped herself. As Arthur passed, the guards released me, and I stood rooted to the spot, giving Valiant a look to show him that I want afraid and that I would stop him. He just smirked.


	15. How to save a life

I followed Arthur back to his chambers, knowing that I was going to be in a lot of trouble. When I walked in I saw Arthur leant against his table facing away from me, he knew it was me and began to speak before I could even apologize.

"I believed you. I trusted you… and you made me look… a complete fool." He was struggling to find the words and I took this as my opportunity to talk to him.

"I know it didn't go exactly to plan –" Arthur looked over his shoulder at me and the expression on his face stopped my words cold. Oh shit. He stood and turned to me as he spoke.

"Didn't go to plan? My father and the _entire_ royal court think I'm a COWARD! YOU HUMILIATED ME!" As if I hadn't got myself in enough trouble I continued to reason with him.

"We can still expose Valiant. It isn't too late Arthur." He turned his back on me and I struggled not to cry. I knew we could never be anything more than servant and master but I had hoped we were at least friends. It appeared not.

"I no longer require your services." What? No!

"You're sacking me?" He still didn't look at me.

"I need a servant I can trust." That hurt more than anything he'd ever said to me before and instead of crying I got angry.

"YOU CAN TRUST ME!" I would have said more but Arthur cut me off.

"And look where it got me this time! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" He still hadn't looked at me and I left, as I got out of the castle doors I looked towards Arthurs window. I could see his silhouette and before I could get upset, I left. I needed to speak with the dragon.

**Arthur Point Of View**

I heard her leave my room and sighed. I knew it wasn't her fault and she was just trying to help but I had lost my temper and had to take it out on someone, she was just the easy target. I had to show them the truth about Valiant somehow because whatever the results tomorrow Valiant will be offered a place here as a Knight unless I can show them the truth. If he stays here he will make Merlin's life a living hell and there's no longer much chance of me being around to protect her. I gazed out of the window and saw her leave the castle and look up at my window, she had tears in her eyes and I struggled not to feel guilty. She hadn't meant to make me look a fool; she had been trying to help and I sacked her because it didn't go to plan. She turned her back on my window and headed to a different section of the castle, I turned away before I could do something stupid like follow her and apologize.

**Merlin Point Of View**

Of course the Dragon was no where to be seen as usual but I wasn't going to play nice today, I was angry and disappointed and scared shitless for Arthur.

"Where are you?" He didn't make an appearance. "I just came to tell you whatever you think my destiny is, whatever you think I'm supposed to do, you've got the wrong person!" He still didn't show and I looked into the blackness accepting that he wasn't going to. "That's it then. Bye." I turned to leave and had just got to the entrance when the Dragon spoke.

"If only it were so easy to escape one's destiny." He landed atop his usual rock and I got angry with his words.

"How can it be my destiny to protect someone who hates me?" He hurt to admit but the truth was I really didn't hate him anymore and yet he still felt the same about me,

"A half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole. Very soon you shall learn that." And that means what exactly?

"Ahh great, just what I needed; another riddle." You could probably taste my sarcasm it was that thick.

"That you and Arthur's path lies together is but the truth." Okay I am getting sick with this dragons cryptic message.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know young sorceress; this is not the end. It is the beginning." He started to fly off and I struggled to stop myself from throwing the torch at him.

"Just give me a straight answer!" Of course that was too much to ask and he continued to fly off. Damn Dragon!

I was sat on the castle steps trying to think of a way to help Arthur when Gwen came up and sat beside me.

"Hello Merlin."

"Alright." I didn't mean to be short with her, I just didn't feel like talking.

"Is it true what you said about Valiant using magick?" I just nodded. "What are you gonna do?" Oh yeah, because I'm the only one in the world who can help.

"Why does everyone always seem to think it's down to me to do something about it?" My tone was sharp, signalling that I was pissed off.

"Because it is. Isn't is? You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong." Tell me something I don't know.

"And how do I do that?"

"I don't know." Didn't think so. With a sigh I threw my head back in frustration and Gwen's gaze caught on the bruises around my neck and gasped.

"Merlin, did, did Arthur do that to you?" Yeah right. The git may be a prat but he would never hurt me. Not really.

"Nope. Valiant." Her eyes grew wider.

"What happened?" He eyes were huge by this point and her voice rose with worry.

"I was getting Arthur's armour when Valiant came in, we were alone. He tried to rape me but Arthur came in, in time to stop him." I shrugged it off but Gwen looked as though she wanted to cry.

"Oh Merlin, it must be so hard fro you to be around him." I shrugged again and looked to the side, my eyes catching on a statue of a dog holding a shield. The spell on Valiant's shield must be something to do with making inanimate objects come to life. If I could learn how to do it I could make the snakes come out of the shield in front of everyone.

"That's it." I whispered under my breath as I stood and headed for the statue.

"Where are you going?" Gwen followed me to where I was trying to lift the statue, to no avail. I looked up at Gwen.

"Don't suppose you have a wheelbarrow I could borrow?" She was giving me the strangest look.

"What the hell are you doing?" I stood up from where I was trying to lift the heavy stone dog.

"Just trust me. Please." She rolled her eyes and got a wheelbarrow for me.

I rolled the dog into our chamber not even looking at Gaius as I struggled to get it up the steps to my room.

"What are you doing with that?" I spun the barrow to face Gaius as I stopped by the steps.

"I'm going to let everybody see the snakes for themselves." Gaius just rolled his eyes as I smiled up at him before lifting the wheelbarrow up a step at a time. Once in my room I lifted the loose floorboard and got my magic book turning pages until I found the right spell and turning to the dog.

"_Bobay Ar Dartha Aresay Quickum." _Nothing happened. I kept trying, changing the tone of my voice, where I stood, I even tried whispering the words in the dogs ear to no avail. I practiced into the night, only giving up when I realised that it was late and Arthur would soon be going to sleep. I headed to his room not knowing what to expect from him.

He was facing the wall and only glanced in my direction when I entered his chambers.

"I thought I told you to get out of my sight." I ignored the pain his words caused me and tried my best to convince him.

"Don't fight Valiant in the final tomorrow." Arthur started to shake his head and I continued before he could cut me off. "He'll use the shield against you." He did stop me then.

"I know." Then why would he fight, if he truly knew that Valiant would kill him.

"Then withdraw. You have to withdraw." My voice was full of panic and he turned to face me fully.

"Don't you understand? I can't withdraw. The people expect there prince to fight –how can I lead men into battle if they think I'm a coward." How can he lead men at all if he's dead.

"Valiant will KILL you. If you fight, you die." I honestly didn't know if he understood what I was saying. Either that or he was crazy.

"Then I die." Men and there bloody pride!

"How can you go out there and fight like that?" There were tears in my voice and he could hear them. He walked closer to me and put a hand on my neck where the bruises were turning blue.

"Because I have to –It's my duty." I didn't know what was his duty; fighting or protecting his people?

"Please don't tell me you're doing this because of what he did to me." He shook his head slightly but didn't stop looking into my eyes.

"When I fight tomorrow it will be in your name but I couldn't withdraw anyway even if he hadn't attacked you." The tears spilt over and he wiped them away with his thumb before kissing my cheek and sending me away. I did as he said and worked harder than ever to get the spell right.

It was morning and I'd worked through the night to no avail. I had shed tears of frustration countless times and my eyes were red and sore. The match was due to begin any minute and I still couldn't do the damned spell. I was contemplating if there was anything else I could do but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to do anything else so with a heavy heart I tried again. Closing my eyes and calming my breathing that was starting to become erratic.

"_Bobay Ar Dartha Aresay Quickum. Bobay Ar Dartha Aresay Quickum." _A sudden bark made me look up.

"I did it!" I laughed in exhilaration and patted the dogs head as I stood, shutting the dog in my room behind me I headed for the front door when Gaius ran in.

"Arthur's fighting Valiant!"

"I know. I'm on my way." I headed for the door before remembering the dog in my room. "Oh and whatever you do, do not go into my room we'll sort that out later." With that I ran to the arena.


	16. Finals & Friendship

Arthur was winning which meant Valiant hadn't got him into position where the snakes could strike without the crowd noticing. I had to bide my time so Arthur wouldn't get bitten when I brought them to life. Arthur had just managed to knock Valiant's shield off and I allowed myself to smile a little until Arthur removed his own helmet and I groaned at his honour. Bloody idiot. The crowd loved it though. Valiant advanced and attacked, he stood on Arthur's foot and used his shield to knock Arthur over onto his back and stand on Arthur's shield, Arthur fought back with his sword but it wasn't enough. Valiant went to stab him and Arthur rolled quickly having no choice but to leave his own shield. Valiant managed to knock Arthurs sword out of his hand and Arthur grabbed Valiant's shoulder and the wrist that held his sword, Valiant tackled him into a wall and the shield was too close, covered by Valiant's body I couldn't see and no one else would have been able to either, it would have been the perfect time for Valiant to set the snakes on Arthur and Arthur knew it so he acted quickly and kicked Valiant away from him. As Valiant flew back and took the time to regain his balance I took my chance and whispered the spell from my spot by the wall.

"Bombay Ar Dartha Arisay Quickum." Arthur was staring to advance without his sword but stopped as the snakes heads came out from the shield. Everyone saw and started to mumble and gasp as Valiant looked down at his shield in fear and shock. Arthur said something to Valiant and he laughed before the snakes completely left the shield and headed to the floor, slithering towards Arthur who had no sword to protect himself.

"Kill him!" Valiant ordered and I hurriedly grabbed a sword from the table and ran into the Arena, I got as close to Arthur as I could before Valiant noticed me and turned towards where I had stopped.

"Arthur!" He quickly looked up at me and I threw him my sword leaving myself at Valiant's mercy. I noticed Arthur facing the snakes as I faced Valiant.

"You are beginning to become a pain in my last nerve, girl." I stood and waited for him to attack.

"Glad I made such an impression, would hate for you to remember me in a good way before you died." He just laughed and started to advance, he swung for me with his sword and I did my best to keep out of his reach, ducking and dodging as Morgana taught me. It was only a matter of time before he would reach me but I was hoping to give the guards enough time to get out of their stupor and help. As Valiant went to swing the death blow he was knocked sideways by Arthur who had come to my rescue, sword in hand.

"You're quarrel is with me and I will not allow harm to come to her again at your hands." Valiant and Arthur squared off again and I hurried to get out of their way in case I got Arthur hurt. I had no need to worry though, Valiant was down and dead before I could even get completely out of the arena. The crowd cheered greatly and Arthur nodded at his father before coming over to pick and placing a hand on my shoulder and smiling.

"Thankyou for saving me." I smiled and tried to joke it off, uncomfortable with the sentimental look in Arthurs eyes.

"Which time?" He chuckled and shook his head.

"Both I guess." It was the first time he'd actually thanked me for anything.

"The score's 2:1 if you're interested." He laughed louder and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders suddenly overcome with happiness that we'd gotten through this and that he was okay. After the initial shock he placed his own arms around my waist and we stood like that for a short time. I wondered what the people around us thought but if Arthur was hugging me back it meant he didn't really care and so neither did I. It only lasted a moment but it was one of the best of my life. He smiled at me as he pulled away and lightly brushed his lips across my forehead causing me to blush.

"May I escort you to the feast?" I was shocked that he would ask me and it took me a moment to answer. I nodded my head and smiled up at him as he smiled down at me before walking back to the castle. I thought he was supposed to go with Morgana?

Morgana found me before I had the chance to leave and was just stood there in shock.

"So? Arthur asked you to the feast? That's a great honour." She was smiling and I just looked at her as though pigs had begun to fly. What the hell is going on here?

"Oh don't look so shocked Merlin." I shook myself out of my stupor and turned to her.

"What the hell just happened?" She laughed and put her arm through mine as we walked back to the castle.

"Well to anyone else they would think that he was taking you because you just saved his life but we both know that it's more than that. Arthur likes you, he doesn't just think of you as his servant anymore. At the very least he thinks of you as a friend." I smiled, it would be nice to call him my friend but at the least?

"Least?" She laughed at my confused expression and I noticed we were heading to her chambers. I didn't bother questioning it.

"Well it's just this look I've seen him give you when you aren't looking. It might be nothing but I've never seen him look at someone like that. Still, lets just take the days as they come, right?" I nodded and smiled. I put what she had said to the back of my mind for now, I'd think about what she meant later on. "Right. Now we need to get you ready for the feast." We?

"Why are we in your room?" She laughed as we reached her door and headed in.

"Because I'm going to lend you a dress; I know you don't really have anything for such an occasion except that beautiful green one you wore but I want to try something new on you." We spent the rest of the morning picking a dress and deciding on a hairstyle.

"Don't you have to get Arthur ready?" She chuckled a little at the irony of me getting my escort ready and I laughed a little with her before I remembered why I wasn't.

"He fired me yesterday after the whole thing with Valiant." She just sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Arthur can be such an idiot sometimes. I'm sure he'll give you your job back soon enough." I just nodded, if anyone knew Arthur it was her. We had decided on a red dress with gems embroidered into it, making it twinkle in the light. It was beautiful.

"I'll see you at the feast then and I know you'll look beautiful." I smiled and thanked her for the dress before heading down to Gaius' chambers to get ready. I still wasn't sure why he asked to escort me but it made me happy to believe that he did indeed think of me as more than a servant.

I was waiting by the door in the red dress Morgana had leant me and my hair was

"My honourable guests I give you Prince Arthur; your champion." He walked in and smiled at me as he took my hand and placed it on his arm. Everyone was clapping and smiling at us.

"My Lady." I smiled at the title I didn't deserve and teased him a little.

"My champion." He chuckled at the title I gave him and we took our places to walk toward Uther. Arthur looked so handsome in his robes and the crown on his head was very pretty but also had a masculine feel to it. I think the thing that made him the most handsome though was definitely his smile; it just seemed to make the room light up. Everyone was looking and clapping at us as we walked towards the King and I couldn't help blushing at all the attention we were receiving. To take my mind off it I started talking to Arthur.

"Has your father apologized yet for not believing you?"

"He'll never apologize. I hope you're not disappointed that I'm the one escorting you."

"No one else is really champion material." We had reached the end of the aisle and just stood together a little to the side talking. He turned toward me but kept my hand in his.

"That was some tournament final." You don't say? I couldn't help smiling up at him as I laughed.

"Tell me about it. It's not everyday a girl gets to save her Prince." Unless you're me that is, then it seems as though it's all you ever do.

"Well I wouldn't say I needed exactly saving. I'm sure I would have thought of something." He looked to the ceiling as if considering what his next move would have been; the smile fell from my face.

"So you're too proud to admit you were saved by a girl." Well it wouldn't be the first time besides he'd already admitted that I'd saved his royal ass after the tournament.

"Because I wasn't." I shook my head, I really thought he might have changed a little.

"You know what? You really are an idiot sometimes." He just shook his head and laughed, in the end I couldn't help laughing with him. We really were friends. A sudden thought sobered him up and he put his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

"I wanted to say… I made a mistake. It was unfair to sack you." I struggled not to smile and let him squirm a little longer.

"Oh don't worry about it. You could buy me a drink and we'll call it even." He made a face and I struggled not to laugh.

"Erm… I can't really be seen to be buying drinks for my servant."

"Your servant? You sacked me." I raised an eyebrow at him and waited for his response.

"Now I'm re-hiring you." I smiled happily up at him before he continued. "My chambers are a complete mess, my clothes need washing, my armour needs repairing, my boots need cleaning, my dogs need exercising, my fireplace needs sweeping, my bed needs washing and someone needs to muck out my stables." The smile had long since disappeared. What an ass! He asks to escort me to a feast and then ends up giving me a list of duties to do? I would do well to refuse the job. Still I knew I wouldn't and instead of dwelling on tomorrow's chores I danced and ate and had an overall lovely night with my Prince, champion and friend.


	17. The Mark Of Nimueh

Arthur and I were on good terms still but it was as though he just ran hot and cold with me; one moment he'd be acting like my friend and the next, my master. I had thought that after the feast he'd have been warmer towards me but he was the same old Arthur. Gaius had been called to check out a body that was found in the village and I was told to and help him, nothing unusual seemed to have happened from what I could see of the body. Then again I could only see his back but there was no blood or wounds that I could see so he'd probably died from some sort of illness. I watched on as Gaius crouched next to the dead boy and wondered how he could do it, personally corpses freaked me out.

"Aren't you scared?" My words sounded stupid to my own ears, what was a corpse really going to do?

"Of what?" I came up with the most logical answer not wanting him to think that I was a complete moron.

"That you might catch whatever it is." Come to think of it, that was something to be scared of.

"I'm the court physician, Merlin. This is part of my job. There's nothing really to be scared of –" His words cut off as he rolled the body over showing blue tinted skin, with prominent dark veins and glossed over blue eyes. Whatever killed him wasn't normal. Nothing to be scared of my ass!

"You were saying?" I chanced a look around hoping none of the villagers had noticed what we had, they'd begin to panic. Gaius seemed to be on the same track as me.

"People mustn't see this, they'll panic." Make that exactly the same track of mind as me then. I hurried up to grab a sheet off someone's line, I'd make sure to return it later, and laid it over the poor boy, just in time as a couple walked past and glanced down at the now sheet-covered corpse.

Gaius hurried off to ask one of the villagers for a wagon we could borrow as I stood over the body, making sure nobody dared to remove his sheet and take a look. Between Gaius and I we managed to haul the body onto it and got to the castle gates without a hitch until Gwen showed up.

"What are you doing?" She seemed in a good mood and I changed my position so I was stood between her and the cart as I fumbled for an answer.

"Just moving something." Please don't ask what, I'm a terrible liar.

"Looks heavy." Well dead bodies tend to be less light than normal ornaments we move back and forth.

"It's nothing really." I smiled at her and noticed a small bouquet in her hands. "Has someone got you flowers?" She looked at the flowers in her hand and smiled, shaking her head.

"Ohh… no." She was giggling as she said it, as if the idea was ludicrous, I honestly thought she was very pretty and would have lots of men lining up to court her. "Would you like one?" I was going to say yes but she practically shoved it in my hand, Gwen got excited when she was doing something sweet. "A purple one, purple suits you." I placed it in my hair but Gwen as silly as ever thought she may have offended me since I didn't say anything; she was looking at my faded red dress in shame. "Not that red doesn't suit you –" I decided to cut her off before she made herself feel worse.

"Thanks Gwen. It's beautiful, you're too kind." She just smiled and I smiled back, Gaius coughed breaking me out of girl time. "See you later." I rolled my eyes and she giggled again. She was definitely in a good mood.

"Bye, Merlin." I smiled and started to heave the heavy cart towards the castle. Damn Gaius needs an apprentice. That's not me and hopefully a boy, that way I wouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting.

I hated this job. How come I have to be Arthur's man servant _and_ help Gaius in my spare time? Well, its not that I minded helping Gaius, he had taken me in after all but sometimes I didn't want to be involved in all of this yucky dead body, plague crap. At the minute I was stood about a foot away from Gaius who was studying the corpses strange skin under a magnifying glass.

"I've never seen anything like this before." I think he was speaking more to himself than me but I was a little curious as to what it was, not that I'd ever admit it. Honestly I was just hoping it wasn't anything magickal.

"Could it be some kind of plague?" Actually, a plague might be worse than magick. At least I could stop something magickal, well hopefully.

"No, I fear that this could never come from nature." Ahh, magick it is then. Wait, plague instead please. Uther will Camelot apart searching for who's responsible and I'll probably end up getting the blame. Shit! "But who has this kind of power?"

"Merlin!" Arthur's voice shouted from the door and with a groan I made my way over to it. He's only going to moan at me for being late. I opened it slightly and stood in the gap so he couldn't see what was going on.

"Erm… I'm on my way. Sorry I'm late." I smiled innocently and he rolled his eyes. Bad mood today. That's just brilliant. Not.

"Don't worry, I'm getting used to it." I started to say something witty when I noticed his eyes were staring towards my hair. I looked at him in confusion.

"Problem?" What did I do now?

"Who gave you that flower?" I placed my hand to where he'd been staring and felt the little flower Gwen had gave me. Why was Arthur acting so weird about it though?

"Gwen. She gave it to me. Why?" I was immediately on the defensive.

"Tell Gaius my father wants to see him now." Without another word he stormed off. What got up his ass? I turned to Gaius to see him hiding a slight smirk. I just ignored him, he found humour in the most ridiculous of things.

"Gaius –"

"I heard." He immediately sobered up and I grew annoyed. He could have just asked for Gaius instead of getting me to play messenger.

"Why couldn't he just tell you himself?"

"Because that's the way it is, you're his servant."

"If he knew who I was, what I'd done –"

"You'd be a dead servant." True. "Come on get this covered up." Why is everyone ordering me around?

"I'm not your servant!" Although I may as well be.

"No you're my dog's body. Come on hurry up. I couldn't help letting out a small chuckle at him as I rolled my eyes and replaced the sheet over the corpse. Yuk.

Gaius and I made our way into the throne room to see the King, Arthur, their knights, two villagers and another body. It was in the same state as the first; blue skin, prominent veins, blue eyes. I recognized him as one of the castle servants, I'd never really spoken to him but we had passed each other in the hallways and said a quick hello to him as I passed. This was getting worse already.

"What happened to him?" The King seemed more worried than usual, I was sure a part of him already new the cause and he was just waiting to have it confirmed. Gaius stood to answer Uther and I remained silent by his side as I looked at Arthur. He didn't seem m fazed, he had no clue what was going on but it wasn't hard to guess so he was most definitely an idiot.

"I don't know Sire, it's the second case I've seen today." Uther didn't like that and I wasn't really all that surprised.

"Why didn't you report it to me?" He remained calm as he questioned Gaius but he was most definitely worried, actually I may go as far as to say that he was afraid.

"I was attempting to find the cause."

"What did you conclude?"

"I don't think it's time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one." Gaius was trying to buy us time so that I would be in no danger of them looking for a sorcerer.

"What are you concealing from me?" I hated how well Uther could read Gaius; it was a pure pain in my ass. I am in so much trouble if they start searching for witches.

"Sire, I have seen nothing like it. The victims are dying in 24 hours and it's spreading fast." Please, let him leave it alone.

"What is the cause?" I should have known better than to even hope Uther wouldn't ask anymore questions.

"I think we should say the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery." The look on Arthur's face as he stared at Uther let me know that they would most definitely be searching for a sorcerer and that I had to take better care to hide who I really am whilst this goes on. Uther took Arthur to the side, I didn't bother listening in on their conversation. I already knew what it was Uther would be telling him to do. Make door to door searches for anyone who may be a sorcerer. Come to think of it I was in the safest place, they would search the village but there was little chance of them searching the castle. Those who lived here were trusted and thankfully I lived with Gaius, surely they wouldn't bother him whilst he attempted to find a cure, right?

"Merlin?" I looked up from the body to see Arthur gesturing me to go over to him, I did so and he gently touched my hand briefly. Hot and cold, much?

"Your duties are to help Gaius, nothing more." So I was on a break until this was over? At least one good thing came out of it. I nodded and went to leave. "Merlin?" I looked back to see him watching me with worry. "Be careful." I smiled at him and nodded.

"You too." I left with Gaius but didn't miss the slight smirk that spread over Arthurs face.

Gaius and I were in the village market looking for some ingredients and I could see Arthur and his guards talking to villagers and searching their houses. I turned away quickly and that's when I noticed a boy, about my age, he was ill but still alive His skin was starting to turn blue and he seemed to be in a lot of pain. He reached his hand out to me and I instinctively grasped it, trying to comfort him.

"Gaius! Gaius! He's still alive!" Gaius walked over slowly and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm afraid there is nothing we can do for him."

"But we haven't even tried!" My voice was shrill as I looked at him in horror. He wouldn't even try.

"If we don't know what the disease is then how can we cure it?" The answer was obvious and I knew he wouldn't like it

"With magick!" Gaius yanked me up and I instinctively let go of the boy's hand.

"Have a look Merlin, they're suspicious of everyone. This is not the time to be using magick." He was talking about Arthur and his Knights, as Gaius yanked me away I looked back and watched the poor boy slump down in defeat. Tears stung my eyes as I started to feel useless. What was the point in having magick if I couldn't use it to help people? "Science will lead us to the source of the disease." I knew in my heart that Gaius was just trying to keep me alive but what about all of the poor people who were slowly dying. "I'm sorry Merlin, I know it's in you nature to want to help people but you have to help yourself first. If you were caught then you wouldn't ever be able to help anyone again, deep down you know that. If you want to save them you'll have to help me find the source by using science instead of magick." I nodded and sighed as we made our way back to our chamber.


	18. Searches and Diary Entries

I was stood waiting to see if Gaius would give me something to do, all this standing around watching was giving me a headache and I felt more useless than ever. Gaius headed towards a table where a red liquid was being heated by a candle and started to hold another bottle of murky liquid above another candle, I was getting confused as to what this crap was.

"What are you doing?" May as well learn something whilst I'm here.

"I'm examining the contents of that mans stomach." He was referring to the man we originally brought here and I was grossed out by the idea of cutting him open and seeing what was inside. Just eww. Gaius started pouring a small amount of the red liquid into the murky liquid and I almost heaved at the smell so asked more questions to take my mind off it.

"Will that tell you who did it?" Please say yes because this is getting beyond a joke. This many people dying because of magick maid me wonder if Uther was right and that it was all bad or that the people who used it were.

"No but it might tell us how it's spread. One thing I do know; this is magick of the darkest kind." I don't understand why people would want to use it like that.

"Why would someone use magick like that?" I hoped Gaius would hold some answers about it because I was starting to worry that I might end up like that if I carried on. I hated the idea of it but if magick is responsible would I even have a choice?

"Magick corrupts; people use it for their own ends."

"But not all magick is bad, is it? You know it isn't." If it was then I would have to stop. I'd have to act normal more so than ever because I'd have to hide that I wasn't even from myself. I couldn't bear to think of my magick possibly harming the people I wanted to protect; like Gaius, or Gwen, or Morgana or especially Arthur.

"It's neither good nor bad. It's how you use it." The door burst open and I spun to see Arthur and two of his Knights, looks like they didn't find anything in the village then.

"Sorry Gaius we're searching every room in town." I watched Arthur as he ordered his Knights on where to look, I found him endearing when he took charge like that. He had already grown up a lot from the childish man I had met my second day here in Camelot.

"What for?" Gaius was trying to stop Arthur's searching and I honestly wasn't all that surprised, they always made a mess when searching places.

"A sorcerer." That was obvious really, thankfully I didn't do it so I should be safe, right?

"Why would he be here?" I took over from Gaius and carried on heating the strange mixture as he spoke to Arthur, I caught Arthur glancing at me and smiled a little towards him.

"I'm just doing my job." It wasn't really Arthurs fault so I spoke before Gaius could, I wanted to say something instead of standing here like a moron, besides surely if I was silent I'd look more guilty.

"Well we've nothing to hide. Go ahead." I smiled towards Arthur's Knights and they gave a small one back, Arthur however hadn't returned my smile earlier so I didn't bother to try with him again. He was in Prince mode, when he was like that I was nothing more than a servant and even though I was currently on a break I knew better than to think he would treat me like anything more. As they went through Gaius' stuff I noticed they were being careful not to make a mess or break anything, more so than they ever would be with someone else. Probably because they wanted to be sure not to ruin any progress we might have made. Arthur was searching through a stack of documents on herbs and their healing properties when he started questioning what they were.

"All these books and papers?" I placed the now boiling mixture onto the table to cool and made my way over to where Arthur and Gaius were stood.

"My life's work dedicated to the understanding of science. You're quite welcome to read through them if you wish." I giggled a little at Arthur's face, he most definitely did not want to read them. He sent a playful glare my way and I bit my lip to stop giggling. He turned away and saw the door to my room.

"What's this room up here?" I spoke up from behind him.

"It's mine." I really didn't want him going through my underwear and Gaius just didn't want him searching around.

"And what do you expect to find in their?" To anyone else he would just seem a protective guardian who didn't want people going through his ward's things but I knew that he didn't want them to find anything that could link me to the illness.

"I'm looking for material or evidence suggesting the use of enchantments." Gaius turned and whispered in my ear

"What have you done with the magick book I gave you." Shit! I hurried towards the stairs but Arthur's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Merlin, come here. Look what I've found." Oh no. My heart was hammering in my chest as I made my way up the stairs. Arthur had his head in an empty cupboard and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. "I've found a place where you can put things, it's called a cupboard." I blushed a little as I noticed the mess my room was in. I let out an embarrassed laugh and he just rolled his eyes.

"Well maybe if I hadn't been so busy cleaning your room I might have had time to sort my own out." He just ignored me and carried on, my eyes scanned the room before landing on the magick book. With a quick glance to check he wasn't watching I used my magick to pull an under-dress over it. I hoped that he was enough of a gentlemen to not touch my underwear, I didn't think he would but my heart still hammered as I hoped that he wouldn't find it. He was over by my desk and picked up another book before starting to flick through, I rushed over and grabbed it off of him.

"Hand it over, Merlin." I stumbled away, red faced. No chance was he looking in that. It didn't say anything about magick but it held all my other kinds of thoughts, like thoughts about him for example.

"No." I shook my head to emphasize my point and he smirked before stalking towards me.

"What is it?"

"My diary." Please don't ask to check it. Oh please. He was coming closer and I found myself back into a wall as he continued to stalk me. He was so close now, towering over me, hardly any space between us. He looked down at me and I noticed that his eyes were darker than usual. My breath was coming faster as he leant down… closer… closer… and then the book was out of my grasp and he was flicking through it a few feet away.

"My name's in here quite a lot isn't it?" My face must have been as red as a tomato as he looked thorough. I tried to grab it but he just held it above his head and laughed as I tried to reach it. He started to read it above his head as I thought about what to do.

"Does Gaius honestly think I sit around doing nothing? I haven't had the chance to sit around doing nothing since the day I arrived in Camelot. I'm too busy running around after Arthur; do this Merlin, do that Merlin, and when I'm not running around after Arthur I'm doing chores for him and when I'm not doing chores for him I'm fulfilling my destiny. I've lost count of the amount of times I've saved Arthur's fat arse." I kicked him in the shin, causing him to drop the book and my toe to seriously hurt but I grabbed it and shoved it in my cupboard before locking it behind me and hiding the key in the space between my dress and breast. Arthur wouldn't dare try to get it out of there. Once his shin had stopped hurting he turned to me, I was still blushing of course it could be much worse. There were many pages in there that was about how I felt attracted to him and if he read that I would never hear the end of it.

"There are two things considerably wrong with that statement; 1.) I am not fat and 2.) You have only saved me once, not that hard to count." He wasn't exactly happy with what I wrote to say the least; he glared down at me and got angry at his blatant disregard for my saving him.

"There is one thing wrong with your statement; because just off the top of my head I saved you from getting stabbed and two I saved you from Valiant." I glared up at him and I'm sure it was a lot less menacing than he could be especially when he started to back me into the cupboard. He bent down so he was face to face with me and his lips were only inches away from my own. I swallowed back the lump in my throat and took a shaky breath.

"I think you'll find I was the one who did the saving there." I though through the haze that surrounded me when he was this close and answered his whisper with one of my own.

"You saved my virtue, I saved your life. I think I win that one." He blinked at my declaration and the truth to it, he knew I'd saved him he was just too proud to admit it. He opened his mouth to say something but obviously thought better of it as he stood and walked out of my room and back down the stairs. I took a second to straighten myself out before following him. He spoke to his Knights for a few moments before turning to Gaius who I was stood next to.

"How long do you think it may be until you find a cure?" Might be quicker if you helped instead of hindered, asshole.

"It depends on how many interruptions I get." I smirked at Gaius' answer; I think that Arthur may have got a bit more than he bargained for when he came in here.

"Of course; I'm sorry. We're finished here." He didn't look at me as he left but his Knights gave a smile and a polite bow which I giggled at. Gaius just cocked an eyebrow at me.

"You seem to have Arthur's Knights on your side." Until they find out my secret I'm sure.

"Did they bow because I was a woman or because I'm nice to them?" He chuckled at my question.

"Probably because you're a very attractive, young lady whom they would like to court," I laughed and shook my head at Gaius as I got back to work. As if!

"On a serious note, we have to hide that book." They've already searched here, it's not like they're coming back.

"No. We must use it." I don't know why I even bothered saying that, there's no chance he'll go for it.

"Don't be stupid." Knew it.

"If I have this legacy then what is it for? You keep telling me it's not for playing tricks." If I can't use it for simple things and I can't use it to save people then what am I supposed to use it for.

"You want to practice magick whilst the king is looking for sorcerers! Are you mad? Merlin your life is destined for more important things." Like what? Watching people die up until I do so myself?

"But if I don't practice how I am supposed to be this great witch?" I'm powerful but I don't know how to do a lot of things and if I don't then I can't protect Arthur.

"There will come a time when your skills will be recognized." When Uther dies and Arthur becomes Kings, yes, but Uther seems to have at least another twenty years on him.

"Then how long do I have to wait?"

"Patience is a virtue Merlin." Ugh, I hated waiting.

"What, sitting by and doing nothing is a virtue? Really?" I was starting to get fed up with all of these rules, my mom sent me here so I could become whatever destiny needed me to be, I was supposed to become great and protect Arthur but I couldn't do that by sitting around and waiting.

"Your time will come." By then more people will have died!

"I could cure that man we saw." And all of the others that became ill afterwards.

"I know it's tempting to use the way you find easiest Merlin –" I cut him off.

"Well it is when it would save a life."

"It's no good just saving one life. We have to discover how this illness is spreading."

"Arthur is out there right now looking for a sorcerer."

"A sorcerer powerful enough to do this will never be found by searching the town." He was right, I was being ridiculous pushing this. If I got caught then I could never fulfil my destiny and right now I needed to help Gaius instead of argue with him. The more time we spent arguing the longer it would be until we found the source and in that time more people would die.

"So what can we do?"

"Hope that science can find the answer before it kills us all." Hey, that's a point. Are we going to get ill? Is Arthur? Will I be allowed to use magick if that happens?


End file.
